Alexander Koloskov : “ OMON is an organized crime group in the service of the state ” Alexander Koloskov is an anti-war activist living in South Korea since 2019. All this time, Alexander is trying to obtain political asylum. Since the very beginning of the war, he has been organizing anti-war actions every week with like-minded people. In April 2026, he was included in the register of foreign agents. However, Alexander was not always an opponent of the regime.

Vadim Prokhorov : “ Such obscurantism did not exist even under Stalin ” Vadim Prokhorov is a human rights lawyer. “Opposition lawyer,” as he is often called in the media. Over the years, he defended Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Kara-Murza , and dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, who was running for the presidency in 2008. He was forced to leave Russia in 2023.

Karina Arzumanova : “ Putin’s artists sold their souls to the devil ” Karina Arzumanova, a German philologist, journalist and wife of the famous pianist Evgeny Kissin, gave a big interview for the first time. “For me, there is no excuse for the artists who serve this government. It’s selling your soul to the devil,” she says.

Aaron Levi-Kryzhanovsky : “The war became the starting point for a new life” Aaron Levi-Kryzhanovsky was born in the nineties in a small town in the Urals. He is an intersex person. Due to their structural features, the gender of such people cannot be determined from birth.

Irina Orlova : “ Esveoshnik wept as he saw off the new ones to war ” Irina Orlova was born in Saratov, lived in Perm, Serov, Krasnodar. She grew up in a theatrical family and graduated from the Institute of Arts with a diploma in theater and film actresses. She became interested in politics in 2015, after the murder of Nemtsov. Since 2017, she has worked as an election observer. She recently left the country following her journalist daughter.

Kristina Shienok: “The victory of Ukraine is the key to freedom for Belarus” Kristina Szyenok, director of the Office of Democratic Forces of Belarus in the Czech Republic , was once far from politics. In 2009 she came to Prague to study. In 2020, after the revolution was suppressed in Belarus, she began to help those who fled from Lukashenko. “The war accelerated many processes in Belarus.

If you are not interested in war, then it will be interested in you Veronica (name changed) wrote to us. She is 16 years old. She lives in Cherepovets. He practices karate and wants to become a coach. But thinking about the future and dreaming of starting a family during the war, in anxiety about a new wave of mobilization, is very difficult. Veronica worries about her partner and her coach: “It’s better to let them be sick, sit down, hide in the forest, remain disabled - just not 200.” - Hello.

“In this stale and worn-out world of the Russian soldier” An artist and designer from Moscow tells how, during four years of war, her profession and social life gradually disappeared from her life. In their place came unpublished poems about the war, “deprivation” and hopelessness. - Hello! I walked all day and gathered the strength to return to 2022... And at the physical level, a panic attack begins... Heat rises in the chest and head...

Anya (not her real name) is one of hundreds of Russian teenagers persecuted for her political views. At the age of 13, she took up art activism—she spent her nights writing anti-war slogans in public places. In February last year, she was caught red-handed, after which she was tried for “vandalism.” We verified this story and received Anya’s dad’s consent for anonymous publication. Here is Anya’s letter with minimal editing and abbreviations.

" Coming to Russia , I cannot return to the place that I love, because it no longer exists " Masha is an artist who left Russia when the war began. Masha notes that “it didn’t happen overnight; all the rallies and injustice followed, which led to this moment.” In an interview, Masha talked about how at the lyceum where she studied, lessons were organized specifically during rallies.

Karina Pronina : “ The coffins of the military men standing in the gym were mind-blowing ” Karina Pronina is an author of theater projects and a journalist. Works for the famous regional media “People of Baikal”. After the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine, she remained in Buryatia, where she had lived for four years by that time. Karina wrote a lot about the war, about the funerals of Russian soldiers.

Yana Zadorozhnaya : “ I condemn those who left at the beginning of the war ” Yana Zadorozhnaya is a sports coach, nutritionist, and eating disorder specialist. Hosts the “Eat Peacefully” podcast and the “Girl and Decay” telegram channel Born in Yakutia, grew up in Kazakhstan, then lived and worked in Moscow. Mom is Kazakh, father is Ukrainian. When Russian troops invaded Ukraine, I went to anti-war rallies. Then, in 2022, she condemned those who leave the country instead of resisting.

Nikita Evseev : “ You have such a great life, and you’re leaving, are you crazy? » Nikita Evseev is a businessman in the field of medicine and cosmetology, podologist. He was engaged in this business with his wife in Yakutsk. Now he is a truck driver in Florida, America. I moved there with my entire large family: my parents, my brother and his family, my wife and son. Nikita honestly admits that he was not interested in politics until 2014.

Ksenia Maksimova : “ They told my mother: “You raised a traitor to the motherland” Ksenia Maksimova is a former model who was included in the world top 50 ranking. Born in the Urals, in the Perm city of Tchaikovsky. She entered the modeling business quite early, worked in Italy, Japan, and Great Britain. After leaving her modeling career and graduating from university in London, she became interested in activism and politics.

I myself was one of those people whom I now despise Vladislav (name changed) is a programmer. He is 41 years old. Now he lives in the Balkans. For a long time he considered himself a person outside of politics. The authorities did not support, but did not go out to protest, convincing themselves and others that resistance was dangerous and pointless.