Andres Ilves is Director, Near East and Eastern Europe Region at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, responsible for RFE/RL’s multiplatform output in the Armenian, Azeri, Dari, Georgian, Pashto, and Persian languages, spanning all TV, digital, and radio content.
In addition to over a decade at the BBC, where he served in numerous senior editorial and managerial roles in Africa as well as the Near East region, Andres was the founding director of Radio Free Afghanistan and the Persian-language Radio Farda for Iran. He is a frequent speaker on issues ranging from disinformation to regional current affairs.
An Estonian raised in the US, Andres has also served in roles in international and local NGOs, government, and electoral politics. He received an honours degree in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University.