February lasts a year

Photo: Alexander Chizhenok / Shutterstock

Today there are several punishments prepared even for people who come out on the street with a white sheet of paper with nothing written on it. A similar fate may befall those who express their opinions about the war on social media and networks. A report about an anti-war post can be filed even by friends or family.

Through these laws, the Russian state sends a clear message to its citizens: if you do not agree with our decision to wage war, either leave or stay silent. However, not everybody can leave. And while some cannot leave for numerous different reasons, there are also people who are anti-war but choose to stay. They believe that they can be more useful in their own country than abroad. From the beginning of the full-scale escalation, most of these people have joined different civil society initiatives or created new NGOs and foundations.

Lighthouse

The main driving force for many of those who stayed was to help refugees from Ukraine who ended up in the territory of the Russian Federation. According to data published by the United Nations, over 2.8 million Ukrainians crossed the border into the Russian Federation. Many of them were taken by force, but some did so voluntarily. Many of these refugees need assistance fleeing Russia for Europe, however, they also seek legal advice or look for accommodation and financial resources when they opt to stay in Russia. These people usually have relatives in Russia or, which is more often the case, do not know any foreign languages that would allow them to find a job in Europe or establish a life over there. Consequently, assistance initiatives which have been created as a response to these needs turned out to be one of the few ways for Russians in Russia to express their support for the Ukrainian people and oppose the war. Yet, by doing so they put themselves at a very high risk.

A small four-storey building in the centre of Moscow is decorated with a sign that has a small lighthouse with a bright orange roof. This is the symbol of a children’s hospice called the Lighthouse, which was established here ten years ago by Lida Moniava. Lida, 35, has for many years been championing a humanistic approach to palliative care in Russia. To mainstream her vision of patient assistance she has been using her Facebook page. There she tackled such topics as the quality of life of disabled people, accessible medical services and dignity in death and dying. In Russia many of these issues remain taboos until today.

Since February 24th 2022 Lidia has started using her Facebook to write about the war in Ukraine. “It is impossible not to call this war a war just for the sake of preserving the hospice,” she says in interviews, explaining why she does not call what is happening in Ukraine a “special military operation”, as it is officially required by the new Russian legislation. She has been doing this fully aware that her foundation, which is helping terminally ill children, may suffer as a result of her publishing these opinions.

Also, the inability to remain indifferent to what has been taking place in Ukraine has pushed Lida to create a volunteer project which mobilised her hospice staff during nights and on weekends to help Ukrainian refugees who lost their homes, their belongings and have no relatives and friends. Overall, they had no choice but to leave their homeland and ended up in Russia without work, accommodation or any means to live. In March 2022 Lida and her fellow volunteers began to look for housing for them, started arranging medical consultations for those who were in need, offered help with paperwork, provided clothes and food, and even searched for jobs. Six months later, the project turned into its own independent foundation with the same name – the Lighthouse.

Overall, in 2022, the Lighthouse has helped 12,000 refugees who arrived in Moscow and the Moscow region. The organisation has now 41 employees and involves over 1,000 volunteers. Its structure is based on a system of curators who help refugee families from two to six months by being constantly in touch with them and reacting to their needs. Indeed, many refugees require assistance for only a short period of time.

Such was the case of a refugee woman who left Ukraine in her late stage of pregnancy. She moved to Russia with an aim to reunite with her relatives in Europe. Due to medical reasons, however, she was advised to stay in Russia until she gave birth there. Only then was she able to continue her journey to her final destination. To assist her, the Lighthouse volunteers looked for an OBGYN doctor and helped her with finding temporary accommodation. Yet there are also refugees who need help for longer periods of time, such as a single mother who fled the Kharkiv region with her two children. Her youngest son is two years old, while the eldest one is 12. They now stay with friends in Russia as they have no money to rent an apartment on their own. They decided to stay in Russia also because they have nowhere else to go. The mother has been struggling to find a job because her younger son often gets sick. She is trying to make a living by doing manicures, but the income she receives from this is not enough to feed the family. Thus, the Lighthouse volunteers have been collecting money to buy her some food.

As expected, many people who find out that the foundation has been helping Ukrainian refugees in Moscow ask why these people chose to come to Russia and not any other country, especially in Europe? “People who ask such questions do not understand the behaviour of a person who has not eaten for several days and was in mortal danger,” explains one of the foundation’s coordinators. “They do not care where they run. They do not have the pride that people sometimes imagine. They just want to live – and be somewhere where bombs do not explode over them.”

Civil assistance

“There is no excuse for what is happening now. This is complete madness and we are made accomplices of this madness. It is impossible to put up with this,” said Svetlana Gannushkina in an interview she gave a few months after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Svetlana is a Russian human rights defender and the head of the Civil Assistance Committee, which was created in 1990 as an NGO that helped the first refugees of the perestroika era and later after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Over the past 33 years of its existence, the organisation has developed many areas of assistance. Last year a new area, namely assistance to Ukrainian refugees, was added to their work.

Even though the committee was recognised by the Russian authorities as a “foreign agent” and evicted from the building where it had been operating for many years, the Civil Assistance Committee continues to provide legal, psychological, medical and financial assistance to Ukrainian refugees who arrive in Russia. Its volunteers help refugees obtain official status, which allows them to obtain a residence permit and entitles them to apply for financial and legal support from the Russian state. According to statistical data on migration issued by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was recently published by the Civil Assistance Foundation, only 12 foreigners received refugee status in Russia in 2022. This is the lowest number in Russia’s recent history. At the same time, according to the organisation’s report, as many as 98,632 foreigners have received temporary asylum in Russia over the past year. Out of them 97,591 are citizens of Ukraine. In December 2022, the organisation was accused of “discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation” even though posts on its social networks since February 2022 “have never mentioned the army in any of the statements related to the events in Ukraine”.

Networks

If you wonder whether it is dangerous for Russian NGOs to help Ukrainian refugees in Russia and at the same time publically display their anti-war position, the answer to this question is yes. That is why many initiatives that engage in such assistance officially operate in dispersed locations. For example, while the founders of an organisation are usually abroad, from where they provide information and financial support, volunteers, who for personal security reasons are acting anonymously, remain in Russia, where they offer material help. A good example of such a network organisation is Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAS). It was established in late February 2022 to coordinate anti-war protests. Already in the first month of the war in Ukraine FAS became “one of the fastest growing anti-war campaigns in Russia” and gained over 26,000 subscribers on its Telegram channel. Thanks to their work, people who wanted to do more than political activism and truly help Ukrainian refugees in Russia joined FAS.

Since then, FAS has developed four areas of work: legal support related to labour issues, psychological assistance, assistance to Ukrainian refugees (deported and voluntary migrants), and assistance in evacuation for Russians who want to leave their country. As part of FAS, several dozen volunteers and coordinators have been working in Russia and abroad. When abroad, they mostly carry out anti-war actions that cannot be done in Russia for security reasons. In Russia they work underground. They distribute anti-war leaflets and newspapers as well as help Ukrainian refugees. When refugees decide to leave Russia, FAS searches relocation options for them. Yet, if they opt to stay it provides them with legal and financial assistance. FAS sees itself as a decentralised horizontal movement. This means that all areas of its work are independent of each other, people make decisions by themselves and do not affect each other’s work.

A similar decentralised scheme can be seen in Kovcheg, another anti-war initiative that has arisen after the outbreak of the full-scale invasion. Its aim is to help Russians who have left Russia in protest of the war. The organisation’s website and online chat rooms allow those who left Russia to search for new acquaintances abroad, as well as to find work in the new place and affordable housing. In several cities, Kovcheg has created co-living opportunities for those who need them. Its website offers practical information not only for those who have left Russia but also for those who remain in the country. In its initiatives section, there is information not only about anti-war associations formed by Russians who have left the country, mostly heading to different countries in Europe or to Georgia, but also about regional projects which are now being organised in Russia. It includes a team of volunteers from Tula, which is a small town in Russia and the birthplace of gingerbread, but also a tank production site (what an unusual neighbourhood indeed). These volunteers help refugees who are staying in temporary shelters. They bring them all the necessities and help with finding more permanent housing. Another example can be seen in Yakutia, where several organisations have called for safe anti-war protest actions. Unfortunately, their peaceful protests against mobilisation last autumn resulted in the detention of participants.

Self-help

One of the main questions that many of the Russians who have left their country hear is: “Why are you here? Go back to your country and change something there, go out to protest there, not here.” It is very difficult to answer this question as those who are asked it know all too well that in today’s Russia, protests change nothing. Those who stayed in the country also understand that sad truth. That is why instead of risking going to prison for several years, they know that sometimes it is better to grit your teeth and keep silent. At the same time, you can always try to do something useful. That is why they choose to help refugees who suffer from the aggression of their own country. Nonetheless, it is important to keep in mind that those who stayed need help. First of all, they need legal assistance.

Such aid is provided, for example, by the OVD-info project, which is an NGO created in Russia about ten years ago. It provides legal assistance to people who were detained at protests and innocently convicted. Last year most of their cases were related to the earlier mentioned law which stipulates punishment for discrediting the Russian army. As a result of this legislation, around 447 people are being prosecuted in criminal anti-war cases now, about 128 have been sentenced to prison, and one person died during an investigation. Seven defendants in anti-war cases are under 18 and more than 15 people reported torture by policemen during interrogations.

OVD-info offered even more help after the start of mobilisation in Russia, which took place on September 21st 2022. After its announcement, hundreds of men were sent to the front line without prior training. Most importantly, mobilisation was also directed at those who did not support the war and did not want to go to war. To help them, some of the existing NGOs started to offer new kinds of aid. One project called Support Service, which was established in the spring of 2022, has provided practical legal information on how to escape mobilisation. There is also a new volunteer project called Go by Forest. It is the only initiative in Russia which helps those who are liable for military service by instructing them on how to avoid conscription or escape from Russia.

One may ask: why do these projects aimed at psychological and legal support for Russians matter? Does it matter what happens to people who may die in the war because they participate as a part of the Russian military? Would it not be better to think just about Ukrainians? “Our task is to help the maximum number of people: the fewer of them pulling the trigger, the better,” explains Grigory Sverdlin, head of the Go by Forest project and former director of the Nochlezhka Foundation, which helps homeless people in Moscow and St Petersburg. “That is why we will help people to hide from mobilisation in Russia, to leave the country illegally, to desert. Life is the highest value: both the life of a person who is made to go to war, and the lives of Ukrainians on the other side. They can stay alive when the mobilised Russians do not come to Ukraine.”

Victoria Odissonova is a Russian journalist and photojournalist. Her work, including articles and photos, frequently appear in the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

civil society, Russia, Russia's war against Ukraine