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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Society, raised on «traditional values» and contempt for difference, has grown hardened and blind, walling itself off from those who are not like everyone else with a barrier of indifference. And children with disabilities pay the highest price for this.

#state #children #disability #inclusion #personalexperience #violence #intolerance #society #Russia #USA

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In the early 1990s, Dmitry Gubin worked at the magazine «Ogonyok,» which was then headed by Korotich — and he has memories to share about the legendary editor who passed away this week.

#VitalyKorotich #journalism #historicalmemory #personalexperience #media #MikhailGorbachev #Restructuring #aftertheUSSR #Russia #USA #Ukraine #Emigration

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It's hard to believe that Vladimir Solovyov was once a respected journalist known for being a courageous interlocutor. Today, he is one of the main mouthpieces of the war that Russia unleashed in Ukraine. At one time, I personally witnessed and, to some extent, was a victim of this metamorphosis.

#PussyRiot #VladimirSolovyov #WarinUkraine #ideology #personalexperience #propaganda #propagandist #protests #Putinism #Russia #PussyRiottrial #TV

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«Most» columnist Dmitry Khmelnitsky has been trying for 50 years to reconstruct the life story of the outstanding artist Viktor Lobachev. All that is known about him so far is his name and the period of his work: the late 1930s.

#1930s #graphics #Zeitgeist #art #History #personalexperience #investigation #repressions #theUSSR #artists

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Masha Moskalyova is a girl whose fate shocked even those familiar with political repression. After the 12-year-old drew an anti-war picture at school, she endured several FSB interrogations, searches, psychological pressure, long months in a shelter, separation from her father—who was imprisoned for a couple of anti-war posts on social media—and, finally, forced emigration. We spoke with Masha about what she went through and how her life is now.

#WarinUkraine #state #interview #personalexperience #society #protests #repressions #parentsandchildren #Russia #familyandschool #Emigration

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Irina Krynyina is the first wife of a Russian prisoner of war who came to Ukraine in the fall of 2023 to be with her civilian husband. Since then, not only her life but also her motivations have changed dramatically. Leaving behind a comfortable life in her native Krasnoyarsk, Krynyina, together with other Russian women living in Ukraine, founded the movement «Our Way Out» – and now helps relatives of Russian prisoners of war locate them in Ukrainian captivity. We spoke with Irina about how former captives can avoid being sent back to war.

#WarinUkraine #women #personalexperience #mobilization #society #prisoners #Russia #Ukraine

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Since early 2022, thousands of opponents of the Russian invasion of Ukraine have tried to seek asylum in the US — only to face tightening immigration policies. With Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, those who hadn’t secured legal status in previous years found themselves in direct danger. Since early 2025, US authorities have deported two activists to Russia — Vladimir Mashinin and Leonid Melekhin. The first managed to escape; the second was placed in pre-trial detention last week for two months due to anti-war statements made in previous years. Julia Nikolaeva, a US immigration lawyer of Russian origin practicing in San Francisco for 15 years, confirms that the situation for asylum seekers in the States has significantly worsened, as has the overall attitude of authorities toward foreigners. We spoke with her about this.

#America #deportation #dictatorship #DonaldTrump #interview #personalexperience #society #petition #politicalasylum #protests #repressions #Russia #USA #Emigration

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Foreign agents, extremists, individuals cooperating with «undesirable organizations,» and other types of «enemies of the people.» In Russia, these labels are imposed weekly on writers, poets, journalists, scientists, civil activists, human rights defenders, and simply people with a conscience—along with criminal and administrative cases, inclusion in various lists, and outrageous legislative demands. Some call these statuses a «recognition of merit» and a special title to be proud of. I will try to explain why this is not the case.

#west #foreignagent #personalexperience #MinistryofJusticeoftheRussianFederation #politicalasylum #repressions #Russia #USA

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Thirty-four-year-old teacher Ilya Yolokhin from the Perm region was not supposed to be at war due to medical reasons – yet he was sent to the occupied Donetsk region. He managed to escape from service, got out of Russia, and now shares what he went through.

#army #WarinUkraine #deserter #interview #personalexperience #RussianMinistryofDefense #mobilization #politicalasylum #psychologicaltrauma #torture #Russia

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In 2023, when the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation declared the non-existent «International LGBT Social Movement» an extremist organization, the Russian queer community finally went underground. For distributing any content mentioning LGBT, you can receive a hefty fine or even a criminal case. Stores stopped selling books with stories about same-sex love, online cinemas are deleting series and films with queer characters, and the social network VKontakte blocks search queries about LGBT. Queer people who agreed to talk about ways to preserve their identity under these conditions were forced to hide even for phone interviews—in friends’ apartments, or even in the forest.‍

#state #democracy #dictatorship #queer #LGBT #personalexperience #politicalrepressions #humanrights #Russia #sex

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Berlin journalist Marta Hillers did not seek fame or popularity. She certainly was not trying, as one might say today, to «hype» her suffering. She simply needed to speak out, to share with others what she herself experienced and what hundreds of thousands of other German women of that time endured. To feel, if not compassion, then at least understanding. Alas. During her lifetime, she received neither from her country.

#story #personalexperience #literature #war

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Kostya Pak is a 34-year-old marketer from Seoul. He has been living and working in South Korea for over five years, building a career in the beauty industry and observing the changes in the country he once decided to move to. In this interview, he honestly and in detail explains why young people in South Korea are in no hurry to have children, what life is like in the very heart of a metropolis, what the future holds for this country—and for himself.

#Asia #personalexperience #Russia #LaborandCapital #Emigration #Southside

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At the end of February 2025, journalist and film critic Ekaterina Barabash was detained in Moscow. For social media posts about the war in Ukraine, the Russian Investigative Committee accused her of spreading «fakes» about the Russian army out of hatred. In Russia, this charge carries a prison sentence of five to ten years. Fortunately, Ekaterina managed to escape from house arrest and reach Europe. Today, we can finally tell the story of how it happened.

#WarinUkraine #dictatorship #lifeinRussia #KaterinaBarabash #personalexperience #repressions

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