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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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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In Russia, they are preparing to punish people for searching for uncensored materials on the internet — including using VPNs. For Belarusian citizens, this has long been an everyday reality: for several years they have lived under a ban on access to independent information. In an interview with «Most,» Belarusian political scientist Artem Shraybman explains the difference between Russian and Belarusian censorship and what lessons from Belarusian digital resistance can be applied in Russia. He also discusses how the Lukashenko regime is evolving, what is happening with emigration, what to expect for political prisoners (including Maria Kolesnikova), and how the release of Sergey Tikhanovsky affects the Belarusian opposition in exile.

#AlexanderLukashenko #Belarus #Belarusianopposition #foreignpolicy #dictatorship #interview #KeithKellogg #personalitycult #MariaKolesnikova #massemigration #Minsk #independentmedia #politicalrepressions #protests #Russia #SergeiTikhanovsky #securityforces #censorship

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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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