Russian activists are not always safe even after emigrating. Persecution can continue beyond Russia’s borders—including at the hands of informal groups acting in line with Russian propaganda. This is what sex educator and LGBTQ+ activist Sasha Kazantseva faced in Lithuania: last summer, she began receiving threats, and people associated with a homophobic group targeting queer teens and activists came to her home. Since then, Kazantseva has been seeking a response from Lithuanian authorities so that such cases do not go unpunished. In an interview with «Most,» Sasha Kazantseva explains how this pressure works, why it’s not an isolated case, and what is happening to queer people from Russia—both inside the country and abroad.

#bigtalk #homophobia #discrimination #europe #interview #LGBT #Lithuania #violence #police #repressions #SashaKazantseva #And #ultraright #Emigration

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Today's Germany is a country of migrants. In some ways, even more so than the USA. From politics to culture, it has long relied on people with a migration background.

#Analytics #refugees #EastandWest #Germany #europe #Italy #xenophobia #culturalcode #Merkel #migrants #Myths #unificationofGermany #policy #rightandleft #Syria #Turkey #Emigration

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Borders between Russia and Europe are closing, and censorship is intensifying — how can bridges be built between those who left and those who stayed? Musicians, artists, activists, and journalists who left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine discussed this in Vilnius. We publish their conversation.

#WarinUkraine #EastandWest #discussion #europe #Lithuania #Naoko #repressions #RussianantiwarAMY #SashaKazantseva #freedom #Emigration

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The documentary «Russian Winter,» filmed with clear sympathy for political émigrés from Russia, was screened at the Berlin Film Festival during days when residents of Ukrainian cities were suffering from the cold under Russian bombardment. But Austrian director Patrick Chiha did not change the title.

#antiwaremigrationfromRussia #berlinale #WarinUkraine #lifeinexile #interview #movie #criticism #festivals #Emigration

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The author of «The Bridge» spent the day under sirens and shelling. A personal account

#security #Israel #Iran #IranIsraelwar #personalexperience #society #Haifa #Emigration

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In January 2026, the human rights organization Russian America for Democracy in Russia (RADR) succeeded in stopping the deportation of nine Russians from the US back to Russia. We spoke with RADR President Dmitry Valuev about how this works amid mass protests against President Trump’s anti-immigration policies.

#VladislavKrasnov #deportation #DmitryValuev #interview #Iran #migrationpolicy #populism #Russia #USA #Trump #Emigration

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«It's not like I'm hiding — if the immigration court wants to find me, they can do it anywhere, if they want to,» Vladislav Krasnov told «Most» in an interview at the end of last year. A US federal court denied the active supporter of Alexei Navalny political asylum in March 2025, after he had already spent 444 days in American immigration detention centers in conditions close to torture. Now Vladislav is set to be deported to Russia, where he faces arrest.

#antiwaractivists #deportation #Bulk #Putin #repressions #Russia #USA #Trump #Emigration

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Exactly 60 years ago, the USSR began the trial of writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel, which marked the beginning of the Soviet dissident movement. One of the prosecution witnesses at this trial was the Orientalist Sergei Khmelnitsky — the father of historian of Soviet secret services and «Most» columnist Dmitry Khmelnitsky. Dmitry himself was 12 years old at the time. A couple of years later, Dmitry learned that his father had been a secret NKVD informant, whose denunciation in the late 1940s led to the arrest and imprisonment of two of his friends. After being released during the Khrushchev Thaw, they publicly exposed Sergei Khmelnitsky, and all his close friends turned away from him. Among them was Andrei Sinyavsky. However, few people know that the famous writer himself was recruited by the NKVD at the same time as Khmelnitsky and continued to cooperate with the KGB. Dmitry tells how it all happened in his forthcoming book «Khmelnitsky, Sinyavsky, and the KGB.»

#dissidents #denunciations #interview #historicalmemory #kgb #personalexperience #thaw #SinyavskyandDaniel #repressionsintheUSSR #parentsandchildren #specialservices #France #Emigration

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In early January 2026, Russian journalist and emigrant Evgeny Safronov tragically died near Paris. This story exposed the problem of vulnerability among people experiencing prolonged stress and social isolation, which many emigrants face. We spoke with staff from the Reforum Help psychological support service about the signs of psychological distress and how to help yourself and others during such times.

#Helpontheforum #WarinUkraine #psychology #Russia #suicide #France #Emigration

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If you still retain Russian citizenship but are critical of its authorities, be careful using PayPal as a payment network. Be prepared for your account to be blocked overnight, with no chance to withdraw whatever funds you have left there.

#ArtificialIntelligence #personalfinancing #personalexperience #politicalrepressions #Russia #Rosfinmonitoring #Emigration

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On December 5th in California, Frank Gehry passed away—a fearless experimenter and visionary who changed perceptions of his profession and invented new tools for it. He broke the rules, followed his own desires and imagination, and transformed the world around him. And now, with sorrow, we speak of him in the past tense.

#architecture #Germany #Twoleggedbelt #deconstructivism #Jews #historicalmemory #freedom #art #USA #ridingweight #painter #Emigration

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How can political émigrés who end up in American immigration jails be saved from extradition to Russia? What do FSB psychologists ask passengers on deportation flights during interrogations? And why don’t Western governments help Russian antiwar refugees? A wide-ranging conversation with Dmitry Valuev, president of the human rights organization Russian America for Democracy in Russia (RADR).

#refugees #bigtalk #WarinUkraine #state #deportation #interview #personalexperience #Bulk #opposition #rightandleft #Putin #USA #Trump #Emigration

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One of the main economic news stories this week for Russian citizens is the European Commission’s decision to include Russia in the list of high-risk jurisdictions. Officially, it is set to take effect at the beginning of January 2026. We speak with anti-corruption expert and founder of the NGO «Arktida,» Ilya Shumanov, about what problems to prepare for after the New Year holidays—and what his own plan is.

#bankingsystem #EuropeanUnion #west #IlyaShumanov #interview #corruption #personalexperience #moneylaundering #Russia #sanctions #finance #blacklist #Emigration

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After Donald Trump returned to power, many Russian political emigrants found themselves facing the threat of deportation from the US. In the summer of 2025, one of them, Leonid Melekhin, was denied political asylum and deported to Perm, where he was detained right at the airport. For six months now, he has been awaiting trial in a local pre-trial detention center on criminal charges of justifying terrorism. Under Russian law, Melekhin faces two to five years in prison. To prevent more cases like this, «Most.Media» launched a petition to the US authorities in late July, which has been signed by more than 31,000 people. Among them are many political activists who, if deported from the US, face repression in Russia. We are beginning to publish their stories.

#America #state #deportation #personalexperience #Bulk #politicalrepressions #Putin #repressions #Russia #Trump #Emigration

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Surely everyone interested in the country's past has at least once wondered: could it have become different? And if so, under what circumstances? One of the turning points — the events of November 1920 in Crimea. Those days saw the fall of the last anti-Bolshevik regime in the European part of the former empire, the Government of South Russia under Lieutenant General Pyotr Wrangel.

#20thcentury #alternativeRussia #BaronWrangel #WhiteGuard #Bolshevism #CivilWarinRussia #History #Crimea #France #Emigration

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On Monday, the Montenegrin government approved amendments to the law on foreigners. The innovations not only significantly tighten the conditions for obtaining a residence permit but also apply even to those who have long lived in the country. In other words, the law has retroactive effect. Now the only hope is that the country's parliament will fix this.

#Balkans #business #residentcard #state #EuropeanUnion #legislation #personalexperience #theproperty #society #Russia #scandal #Turkey #Montenegro #Emigration

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In Paris, they said farewell to Erik Bulatov (1933-2025) — a brilliant artist whose works became the most recognizable symbol of Moscow conceptualism of the 1960s-1970s. He himself remained one of the leading figures of contemporary Russian art until his last days, even gaining the status of a classic and living abroad for more than 30 of his 92 years.

#VictorKabakov #war #state #childhood #dictatorship #bookillustrations #conceptualism #Moscow #thaw #Paris #aftertheUSSR #RobertFalk #freedom #art #artists #Emigration #EricBulatov

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In early November, many EU residents of Russian origin faced account blocks in the neobank Revolut. This issue affected holders of type D visas and residence permits, as well as those awaiting documents in EU countries, with Revolut citing the recently adopted 19th EU sanctions package against Russia. The anti-war Russian community Kovcheg stepped up for those affected: its founder Anastasia Burakova sent a letter to European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Maria Luís Albuquerque and European Commissioner for Justice Michael McGrath. We spoke with Anastasia about this and other human rights initiatives of Kovcheg.

#advocacy #europe #ark #personalexperience #humanrightsprotection #Russia #sanctions #Emigration

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«I see no reason why democratic, free, independent Karelia, Ingria, Smalandia, or Amberland (even if some of these names still sound fantastical to some) couldn’t become part of the European Union or NATO in the foreseeable future,» says Ukrainian politician Oleg Magaletsky. A participant in the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Pride, in 2022 he founded the Forum of Free States Post-Russia — an international discussion platform whose participants aim for the breakup of the Russian Federation into several independent states. Most.Media publishes his conversation with Vadim Shtepa, editor-in-chief of the magazine Region.Expert.

#future #WarinUkraine #state #dictatorship #discussion #Empire #independentstate #society #aftertheUSSR #republics #Russia #freedom #Ukraine #federalism #Emigration

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Today turns 73. He intends to live—that is, to rule—until the end of his days, though it’s not yet clear whether they will be his own or yours. And if you want to drink champagne to the repose of his soul (in which, admittedly, there are doubts), you’ll have to wait another twenty or thirty years. And I’m not being ironic. I’m talking about a sensible life strategy.

#VladimirPutin #state #dictatorship #DmitryKiselev #DmitryMedvedev #YevgenyPrigogine #kgb #MargaritaSimonyan #Bulk #society #aftertheUSSR #freedom #SergeyKiriyenko #Emigration

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