May 2025. What We Achieved Thanks to Your Support

OVD-Info is an independent human rights defence and media group in Russia today. We monitor repressions in Russia, document cases of human rights’ violations in the conditions of an authoritarian regime, and, of course, we provide direct help to those in Russia who faced repressions from the government.
Here is what we managed to do with your support in May.

Key highlights

Lifeline — our letter-writing service for people facing political persecution — has surpassed 14 000 letters written. For us this was a huge success because we believed that writing a letter to a political prisoner shouldn’t be harder than writing an email — and we managed to come up with a simple yet effective instrument. Lifeline was launched in August 2024 and in almost a year it has developed into a tool where you can not only choose your penfriend and write to them in any language (it doesn’t have to be in Russian, we will translate it for you), but also attach a postcard from our design team and get a response.
Writing a letter with Lifeline is free, but we would be grateful if you could support us with a donation.

We received many requests to add the option to write to a specific person — and now you can! You can also choose a pen pal based on shared interests, and continue the correspondence in nearly any language — our volunteers will help.

And, as always, we’re only able to launch these projects thanks to your support.

How you helped

Financial Support

In May, OVD-Info received 16 539 donations amounting to €149 916;
The median one-time donation was €7,68, and the median monthly donation was €5,48;
The average one-time donation was €15,93, and the average monthly donation was €8,14.

The amount includes:

Direct donations to OVD-Info’s clients via the «Zaodno» platform and other services: 1 285 donations totaling €14 171,32.

«Zaodno» platform is a project that serves as a direct P2P platform where Russians can support political prisoners without involving organizations like ours to avoid persecutions for interacting with a «foreign agent» (OVD-Info was claimed a foreign agent in 2021). Transferring money through «Zaodno» is just as easy as transferring money to a friend for lunch of cinema tickets (and is just as safe). The platform was developed with help of OVD-Info.

Donations for care packages and medical assistance for politically persecuted individuals: 395 donations totaling €5540,87.

Writing Letters and Sending Appeals

Lifeline

Through Lifeline you can send a letter — for free — to someone imprisoned for political reasons. You can write to a specific person, or be matched with someone new based on shared interests.

You wrote 407 letters in May;
Since the project launched, a total of 13 989 letters have been written for 924 people;
We received 3 688 replies and have already forwarded them to you.

Dyatel

In May, we launched a campaign in support of 16-year-old Anya Zhuravlyova — and once again, you stepped in to help. Anya has been held in pre-trial detention for a year and a half and has suffered cruel abuse. According to her mother, in November 2023, Anya came across a TikTok video about the Columbine school shooting in the U.S. and, unable to find an explanation online for why teenagers would do such a thing, began searching for answers herself. That’s how she ended up in Telegram channels discussing school shooters. In one of them, access to supposed «secret information» required signing a questionnaire with disturbing language — describing plans to commit mass murder and suicide. Anya sent in the form but never received any «secret information».

Later, she bought a firecracker, detonated part of it in a vacant lot, filmed the explosion, and posted the video in one of the channels. According to her, the video was meant as a joke — other teenagers had shared similar photos and videos. Two weeks later, the police came to her school. Anya was arrested.

In pre-trial detention, Anya was tortured (her cellmates even admitted guilt), but a criminal case for the abuse has never been opened. To demand help for Anya, we launched a campaign through Dyatel — and in just a few days, you sent over 7,000 messages. Thank you! We will continue fighting for Anya’s right to legal defense, medical care, education, and safety — and you can still send a message to help her.

In May alone, you sent 7,397 appeals to government agencies;
Since the launch of Dyatel, more than 144,936 appeals have been sent in total.

Dyatel (Woodpecker) is our tool for sending mass appeals to Russian authorities. With just a few clicks, anyone can demand action in cases of injustice — whether it’s calling for medical assistance for a political prisoner, protesting unlawful detention, or supporting someone’s right to a fair trial. It’s fast, easy to use, and makes your voice heard where it matters.

What we did

Provided Protection

Express help

A call to OVD-Info hotline or a message to our Telegram bot are the easiest ways to report persecution and get a free consultation. Specialists will advise on how your situation may develop, and instruct about the next steps.

In May 2025 we:

received 242 calls on our hotline and responded to 4 155 messages in our Telegram bot;
by the end of the month, 181 896 active users were connected to our Telegram bot (available in Russian);
provided 54 legal consultations by phone and via e-mail legal@ovdinfo.org;
our legal instructions were viewed 12 169 times.

Our legal team prepared two very important set of instructions:

Instructions on how to mention LGBTQIA±related materials in the month of pride. Since LGBTQIA+ in Russia is considered «an extremist association», so any mention of the LGBTQIA+ could potentially be dangerous. Our legal team prepared detailed instructions on is it safe to post, repost any publications with the rainbow flag.
Instructions on is it safe to store LGBTQIA±related books. In May 2025 will be remembered for alarming news from Moscow: law enforcement officers raided the offices of the publishing house Eksmo, after which around 10 people were detained. Three of them were later placed under house arrest by the court. A criminal case was opened against staff from the publishing imprints Individuum and Popcorn Books (which are part of Eksmo) for alleged involvement in an extremist LGBTQIA+ organization (which doesn’t exist). The reason: the publication, storage, and distribution of the book A Summer in a Red Scarf by Elena Malisova and Katerina Silvanova.
We were already aware that book publishers in Russia had faced pressure in the past — books by «foreign agents» were pulled from sale, entire paragraphs were redacted, and some books were required to be sold in opaque wrappers. But this is the first time that publishing staff are being targeted under a serious anti-extremism charge simply for producing books. We understand how disturbing this news is, which is why we’ve published guidelines explaining whether you should worry if you have books from Popcorn or Individuum at home.

If you or your loved ones are facing political persecution, contact us via our bot or call the hotline: 88007070528 (for calls from Russia).

Legal Assistance: Lawyers, Attorneys, and Defenders

We provide and coordinate legal assistance in cases related to the restrictions of freedom of peaceful assembly or freedom of speech. Our attorneys visit those detained in police departments, and support defendants in Russian administrative and criminal courts.

In May, our legal team helped 130 people in administrative and criminal cases. Our attorneys and lawyers:

took 21 trips to police departments, assisting 30 detainees in 5 cities;
defended 29 people in 34 administrative court cases;
submitted 11 appeals, and participated in 8 cassation hearings to mitigate the sentences of our clients;
took on 4 new criminal cases for 3 defendants;
our lawyers represented 101 defendants in 90 criminal cases.

We consider all these charges and criminal cases unlawful and politically motivated.

We helped politically persecuted people get medical assistance, care packages and legal help

Emergency Assistance

In May, Emergency Assistance, a project launched with the support of OVD-Info, has managed to:

support 10 requests for urgent medical help (5 of them are new);
filed 3 complaints with pre-trial detention centers;
and provided legal consultations for 4 additional requests.

Any politically persecuted person can get help from the Emergency Assistance project — as long as a lawyer or close relative contacts us on their behalf. Requests can be sent to: med@ovdinfo.org.

Bureau of Prison Deliveries

Bureau of Prison Deliveries completed its fastest fundraiser yet: in just four days, they purchased new glasses for Ilya Vasilyev, a programmer and Zen Buddhist held in pre-trial detention on charges of spreading so-called «fakes» about the army.

Over the course of the month, the team collected and sent 19 care packages to 19 individuals and raised over €3006 for new assistance requests from people in detention.

Terminated at Own’s Request

Terminated at Own’s Request is legal help to those facing pressure at work or in school.

Two months ago, with the support of OVD-Info, the project Terminated at Own’s Request was launched. It offers help to those facing pressure or persecution at work or university for their civic stance. As of end of May, 219 people have joined the project’s Telegram bot.

In May, the project team:

provided 12 legal consultations;
prepared 1 specialized lawsuit: three professors from the Ural Conservatory were fired for participating in a labor union, and Terminated at Own’s Request will represent them in the cassation court.

The projects Emergency Assistance, Bureau of Prison Packages and Terminated at Own’s Request were all launched with the support of OVD-Info — and with your support.

Media and Awareness

We believe that information protects, and that media and social attention can prevent violations and change the whole picture. This is why a major part of our work is monitoring news on human rights violations in real time and publishing them as swiftly as possible. Besides news, we publish comprehensive studies, interviews, and now even investigations.

In May we prepared and released:

168 breaking news reports on political persecution across 59 regions;
51 updates covering detentions, trials, anti-war statements, LGBTQ+ repression, protests against mobilization, and government pressure under «moral» pretexts;
2 in-depth articles on political persecution.

We published two new comprehensive articles with guest experts:

The slow-motion collapse of Russian higher education

While once Russia was famous for universities with a great heritage, incredible scientific base and exceptional work ethics, in the past years the educational system was crumbling before our eyes. Today, Russian universities are being rapidly militarized while their overall quality has tanked. The fall began with the Kremlin’s confused policy of trying to improve university quality, worsened at the 2010s authoritarian turn, and was finally exacerbated by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In the new article, Dmitry Dubrovskiy is a historian and human rights scholar at Charles University, specializing in the politics of academic freedom and civil society in Russia, explains how it became possible and what we should expect in the next few years.

The long shadow of austerity

Nick Trinkett, an associate director with S& P Global Commodity Insights’ Investing in Energy service, explains how Russia’s so-called «war boom» hides the fact that life for most people is actually getting worse. From the 1998 financial collapse to COVID and now the war in Ukraine, Russia’s leaders have repeatedly chosen tight budgets and military spending over real help for citizens. Trickett shows how this system wasn’t just a reaction to sanctions — it was built over decades. If you want to understand why Russia looks strong on paper but weak in reality, this book is a must-read.

Also, in May we’ve collaborated with international journalists and released:

a comprehensive article in the English version of El País: Sick and forgotten: The lives of over 100 Russian political prisoners are in danger.

In August 2024, while Western governments celebrated a high-profile prisoner swap with Russia, over 2,000 political prisoners remained behind bars: many of them seriously ill and at risk. At OVD-Info, we continue to monitor these cases, document abuses, and provide legal and informational support to people like Alexei Gorinov, Maria Ponomarenko, and Igor Baryshnikov, whose health has been endangered by neglect and mistreatment in prison. Our data and reporting are among the few tools left to keep attention on these prisoners and to demand their right to freedom, medical care, and dignity.

Our long-time author and the mind behind Dissident Digest, Dan Storyev has released an article in the New York Times: Here’s What’s Happening in America, in Six (Mostly) Russian Terms. The name is self-explanatory, but if you’re curious about the parallels between Russian and American politics — give it a read.

Sharing Knowledge on Political Persecution

International advocacy

On our website, there is a special page dedicated to international advocacy. There, we share reports and other communications with international institutions, as well as the outcomes of such communications.

How much was spent

Total project expenses for May amounted to €339 930.

€104 666 — payment for legal assistance. Our lawyers, attorneys, and defenders assisted detained individuals in police stations and courts throughout the month and coordinated support for criminal cases. The expenses include:

Payment for lawyers, legal professionals, and defenders working on administrative offense cases (first and second instance courts);
Payment for lawyers traveling to police stations to assist detainees;
Payment for lawyers participating in criminal case processes;
Payment for lawyers in juvenile cases commissions;
Payment for lawyers attending interrogations;
Search, training, and coordination of lawyers, defenders, and attorneys in different cities, as well as the operation of the legal hotline — these tasks are handled by our legal assistance team.

€19 875 — support for new or friendly initiatives. To make the project more sustainable and flexible, we invest in the development of new projects that help us in the fight against political persecution. Sometimes we do this together with new small partners, strengthening each other with expertise, knowledge, and resources. Other times, we launch new directions in test mode, such as medical or humanitarian assistance to politically persecuted individuals.

€29 510 — work of hotline operators and news writers. Our monitoring group answers calls on the hotline, messages in the Telegram bot, and writes news daily, helping detainees not only during large actions — detentions in Russia occur every day.

€37 242 — work of the media team. We believe that information protects. To make information about political rights violations publicly accessible, we prepare and publish in-depth articles, guides on major criminal cases, launch special projects, conduct interviews, and share this information on social media. The media team’s tasks also include launching campaigns and running the «Lifeline» project.

€16 669 — data projects, reports, and research. To make the right decisions here and now and to assist journalists and researchers in understanding what is happening, we collect and analyze data on political persecution, publishing datasets. Based on the collected data, we prepare reports that analyze how legislative practices and repressive laws make political persecution possible.

€17 096 — international advocacy. We defend the freedom of assembly, speech, and association both inside Russia and internationally, striving to make Russian repression visible and influence changes in laws and practices that violate international standards. To do this, we prepare reports and analytical materials, participate in events and conferences, and hold our own meetings to publicize violations and obtain independent assessments from international institutions such as the UN, OSCE, and Council of €ope. Legal support in preparing complaints for submission to the €opean Court of Human Rights (ECHR), as well as work by lawyers on strategic cases, also falls under this direction.

€24 126 — work of the IT team. We develop services that help protect ourselves and others, ensure the stable operation of the entire system of tools and developments, and share our developments with other initiatives.

€10 994 — volunteer coordination. Volunteers are our support and the best team of like-minded people. We actively work on expanding the community, attracting volunteers to solve tasks that are not only important for the project but also interesting for them, and we try to involve them more in our work and life, as well as in helping other initiatives.

€18 422 — care for team members. We have allocated a separate area for the care of team members, which includes psychological support, compensation for medical expenses, development of participants' competencies, and their safety. Until August 2024, this part of the expenses was included in the operational support of the project.

€38 517 — operational support of the project. Thanks to this often unnoticed work, we continue to assist those in need and use our resources and efforts more efficiently. These expenses include the costs for team members who ensure the daily operation and planning of the project’s activities, as well as those responsible for the long-term sustainability of OVD-Info, budget planning, strategic goals, communication with donors, and financial transparency.

€22 810 — infrastructure expenses. Expenses related to the parts of our infrastructure that support the team’s work and the project as a whole (for example, office space, accounting services, and fees paid to infrastructure partners who assist us). This also includes taxes and fees charged by the payment systems we use to receive and process donations.

Thank you for staying with us!