“My homeland let me go with a small backpack.” Grigory Kunis about his forced departure from the country

St. Petersburg entrepreneur, former owner of the publication “My District,” founder of the iGooods delivery service, organizer of the first march of the “Immortal Regiment” in St. Petersburg, Grigory Kunis, left Russia due to persecution for donations to FBK.

Text: project “Window”

Grigory Kunis was detained on July 24 on charges of “financing extremist activities” - he was accused of seven long-standing donations of 500 rubles each to the Anti-Corruption Foundation for a total amount of 3.5 thousand rubles. The prosecutor asked for six years in prison, but the Petrogradsky District Court of St. Petersburg decided otherwise, imposing a fine of 500 thousand rubles, which was eventually reduced to 350 thousand - taking into account the 4.5 months spent in a pre-trial detention center. Perhaps the judge’s initial decision was influenced by the fact that Grigory Kunis admitted his mistake in court. But he emphasizes that he never spoke of repentance and does not regret that he once donated to FBK, because he highly valued their investigations.

Gregory Kunis is 58 years old. In the 1990s, he was the publisher of The St. Petersburg Times, from 2003 to 2014, owner and director of the publication “My District” (today it is the portal MR7.ru ), founder and co-owner of the iGooods grocery delivery service from supermarkets. In 2014, Kunis helped organize and sponsored the first major march of the Immortal Regiment in St. Petersburg.

– I have never seen anything like this in cases where someone else was asked to serve 6 years for donations to FBK. There was definitely psychological pressure on the judge in the form of a requirement of 6 years, in the absence of aggravating circumstances and a bunch of mitigating circumstances - children, admission of guilt, social activities, payment of taxes and other things. – says Gregory Kunis. – This is a clear signal to the judge: you need to make gestures. And she, in my opinion, made a compromise and awarded me a significantly larger fine than is usually awarded in similar cases. This is Solomon's solution. I paid the fine immediately so that the prosecutor’s office would have no reason to appeal, but it didn’t work.

December 8 – Kunis was released. But on December 12, the prosecutor’s office considered the sentence “too lenient” and filed an appeal.

“The imposed punishment will not serve to correct the convicted person and prevent him from committing new crimes, and will leave him with a feeling of impunity, and therefore his correction is possible only with the actual serving of the sentence in the form of imprisonment,” says the submission of the prosecutor’s office, which again requested 6 years of imprisonment for Grigory Kunis. Kunis did not wait for the results of the appeal and left Russia. On his social networks, he explained his decision simply:

“I didn’t tempt fate and left Russia. Apparently forever. My homeland sent me away with a small backpack that could fit a laptop, a couple of changes of underwear, one book (Steinbeck) and hygiene items. I'm not mad at her. After all, she let go...”

Mediazona counted 76 criminal cases initiated by mid-2025 for donations to FBK in 38 regions of Russia. The wave of persecution has intensified since 2023; researchers call such cases a “federal program” and reveal the ways in which security forces have learned to identify those who helped the FBK. In 2024, the courts received 25 cases of FBK donations, and in the first six months of 2025 - 34, that is, more than in the previous three years. At the same time, researchers say that real terms for these donations are usually given only in Moscow; in other regions they are limited to fines.

"Rope Mail"

Now Grigory Kunis is in Vilnius.

- I feel great. Much better than 12 days ago, in the pre-trial detention center - in complete safety. This is a very important feeling for any person. I'm no exception. I live in comfort. I can shower as much as I need. I can shave with a normal razor in one go. and not cross your cheeks 10 times with some crap. It seems like a bullshit question, but it’s important. I can sleep on a human bed, and not on an iron bed with a thin mattress. He is thin, and I am bony - I have never slept properly.

But the hardest thing was to understand, says Grigory, that relatives are worried and “can imagine anything they want,” but it is impossible to communicate with them.

– At the trial on the day of your arrest, you can still talk to your relatives. We stood and calmly talked with my wife and sister. I haven’t been arrested yet, and the guards have no right to interfere. But then no one was allowed to approach except the lawyers, and this is very painful: you arrive at the trial, see your wife three meters away and cannot say a word to her. The first time, I naively thought that I could talk, but the guards barked: “What are you doing?” When they led me away, I wanted to say something, but they simply pulled me by the handcuffs. You are completely cut off from the world on the first day.

In the pre-trial detention center, Grigory had to go on a hunger strike in order to gain permission to call home.

But perhaps the hardest test for him in prison was the constantly working television:

– TV series, nauseating, but everyone watches with pleasure – this is a way to kill time. There is absolutely nothing to do, a walk of about an hour in the courtyard is less than a camera. And if six of them are taken out, you are forced to stand and that’s it. When the two of you are taken out, you can at least walk in a circle. And news that you can’t help but comment on – so as not to spoil yourself for the new term.

Now Kunis calmly recalls how he mastered the wisdom of prison life. For example, “roads” is the name in prison language for the exchange of notes, food, cigarettes and even books between cells using ropes.

– I myself used the “road” only a couple of times. It was interesting to me, because there were always cellmates who did it with great pleasure. And if I needed something, I said: “Listen, send books to Vasya there.” Well, he sent it. Or here’s a note for you: “Send it up, send it to the left, send it to the right.” Cellmate Moly did everything himself. Throwing ropes without being noticed is an art. There are people who have trained themselves and could, by unwinding a rope like a sling, throw it through two chambers to a third. The one who accepts the “road” puts out the so-called “fishing rod”. This is either a mop stick or just a hand with a bottle, and if the rope is released correctly, it wraps around the “rod” and can be pulled in, pulling up what is attached to it.

In 4 months, he was given only three books from the prison library, so the “road” helped him a lot.

– Push-button telephones are also sent by rope mail. Communications in the pre-trial detention center are not jammed, but calls are detected in order to take away phones, so you have to make calls extremely secretly,” says Kunis.

Now all this prison experience is behind him.

He does not reveal the method by which he himself left the country, nor the names of those people who helped him, but admits that without their help it would have been impossible to do this. His family remains in St. Petersburg for now, and he says that first of all he is now thinking about their safety.

"The noose is tightening"

In St. Petersburg, Kunis at one time founded the very popular local publication “My District” (today it is the portal MR7.ru ). Og says he decided to step away from media affairs when, due to censorship and changes in the market, almost all local media went into a survival phase.”

- It’s clear that there are fewer and fewer decent publications: a step to the right - you’ll be shot, a step to the left - we took away your license, a step back or forward, and we’ll come up with something else for you. But it’s also much more difficult to earn money, budgets are falling, incomes are falling, the distribution system has begun to work worse. Plus market trends are making things worse for print media. All you hear is this is closed, this is closed, help us.

It was Kunis who became the organizer. “Immortal Regiment” campaign in St. Petersburg. But in 2016, he moved away from this story.

– After the state crushed him under itself. I didn’t want to participate in something with which I ideologically disagreed.

In 2015, Kunis founded the grocery delivery service iGooods in St. Petersburg. The business developed successfully.

“But a week before the arrest, I managed to transfer powers to the new owner, a partner who acquired 50% of the company from my brother. While I was in pre-trial detention, he took the entire business to companies under his control. That is, it seemed to him that 50% was not enough, he stole 100%. And now it’s almost impossible to get it back. My brother suffered, and so did I, because I had an option—the right to a share in the company. 10% of the company's value theoretically belonged to me, and if we sold the company today, then I would receive 10% of its value. That is, we were badly beaten. This has nothing to do with power, it’s just that a dishonest partner took advantage of the situation.

Kunis’s post about his departure ends like this: “I would be grateful for ideas on how to work/apply my experience, since I need to get my family out and have something to live on for everyone. The Motherland also didn’t provide us with money for long, of course.”

– I don’t work now, and I have no income. Plus, the support of good lawyers is not cheap. In general, the months in the pre-trial detention center shook us out properly. And there were no large savings. I have money for some horizon, I can live for a few months, but what then?

He, like many who were forced to leave and are leaving Russia during these years, does not yet have answers to these questions.

“It’s naive to hope for a return.”

He says that he loves St. Petersburg very much, but does not hope to return soon. As well as for the speedy end of the war, for which the Russian authorities still have a lot of resources. He became convinced of this in prison.

– There, the main recruiting takes place during the quarantine stage, as soon as people are in pre-trial detention. People are insanely afraid of what will happen next, they don’t know anything, and they are immediately put in very harsh conditions - several times a day they ask everyone - who goes to the SVO, we will provide everything. Agrees directly in quarantine 30%. Another 10% say - we’ll think about it, wait for the situation to develop, they are not so scared - what if we manage to get out of it somehow differently. And they are under constant pressure. And every day in the corridor one hears: “Those who want to go to SVO!” And someone responds: “Me! I!"

Therefore, Kunis says, he looks at things soberly.

– This could all last another 20 years. I am now 58. At 78 years old – where to return? I will not sit on suitcases these years. I will build a family, a life. It is known that the sooner you understand that you have left forever, the better for you, even if the situation changes later.

His eldest son is 26 years old and left Russia back in 2022. The middle, 14-year-old son, took the separation from his father and the prospect of leaving the hardest of all.

“Artyom cried when I left, and I cried too. The youngest, Misha, is 11, and it’s much easier for him: “Oh, yes, okay, dad, I’ll see you soon.” He's calm. He and I now talk almost every day on the phone, via video. He is also worried, but much easier than the average one. We all have Israeli citizenship, we can easily go there. But besides me, no one wants to go there for various reasons. We need to look for some other country. 12 days ago I was still in prison. There is no use thinking about the future. And of these 12 days in freedom, part of the time was spent simply moving away, and part of the days was spent leaving. And now we need to organize something for the years ahead.

He does not really believe in the possibility of Russian emigration to somehow influence what is happening in Russia. And all his thoughts now are about how to build a new life in a new place - for himself and his family.

– I have good entrepreneurial experience and experience in managing a large IT project. These are the combinations I will try to use first. It’s ideal for me if I find some kind of partnership where I will manage a startup or a developing business related to IT or IT plus offline, which I also understand well. I hope that I can grow the company to certain levels. In IT, the lion's share of projects is related to service - and I am a service-oriented specialist.

And, he says, the main thing in emigration is simply to “preserve yourself.”

– Hoping for a return is naive and dangerous - living out of suitcases, you constantly injure yourself. We must live here and now. Moreover, despite all the problems, here I am free, I can freely say what I think, do what I consider necessary, donate to whomever I want - even to Ukrainians, without fear of criminal prosecution. And this is an important feeling that you can even contribute to something good and right with some kind of donation. That is, keeping yourself free is, after all, easier.