[3] Garry Kasparov founded RDI in 2017 in the months following the 2016 United States presidential election, bringing together over 120 center-left and center-right celebrities, politicians, and public intellectuals around a statement of common values.

[11] Johns Hopkins University, which partners with RDI on Frontlines of Freedom, described the work of member dissidents as "sounding a warning cry to Americans on the fragility of their own democratic pillars".

RDI's founder and Chairman, Garry Kasparov's personal story of transitioning from world chess champion to Russian political figure to American democracy activist is just one example.

The event was hosted in partnership with Freedom House, Johns Hopkins University, the American Enterprise Institute, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, PEN America, and the George W. Bush Presidential Center, among others.

Entitled Making Putin Pay the report determined that "the United States and its allies have the necessary legal authority and a moral obligation to punish Russia for its brutality and illegal actions by transferring Russian sovereign assets to Ukraine."

[21] Following the publication of Making Putin Pay, RDI also advocated for passage of the REPO for Ukrainians Act, which affirmed the president's authority to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.

RDI's advisory board includes Anne Applebaum, Bill Kristol, Bret Stephens, Dan Benton, Katherine Chapin, Daniel Hurwitz, Eric Wolf, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Lisa Berg, Lucy Caldwell, Max Boot, Mark Lasswell, Rachel Vindman, Rina Shah, General Stanley McChrystal, and Whitney Haring-Smith.