Meduza has compiled organizations that support Russians abroad as they deal with unfamiliar laws, language, work, and problems with banks or documents. The outlet says tighter immigration rules have made document troubles more common, and that emigrants are not entirely on their own.
Kovcheg began shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, first with a legal-aid bot on Telegram, then psychological counseling and shelters in Yerevan and Istanbul. Meduza describes it as the largest organization helping Russians abroad. It offers language courses, career training, and guides on legal residency and citizenship, starting a business, finding work, and applying to universities. It also runs more than 50 chat groups by country and profession, plus Kovcheg.Business, a community that holds in-person meetups.
A separate initiative helps LGBTQ people with emergency housing in the EU, legal aid, psychological counseling, evacuation, and support for political prisoners.
In 2022 the Free Russia Foundation, designated an “undesirable” and “extremist” organization in Russia, launched Reforum Space. Sites in Berlin, Vilnius, and Paris are open to anti-war activists, independent journalists, human rights defenders, cultural professionals, and scholars. They provide free coworking spaces and video studios, plus lectures and consultations on settling in, bureaucracy, and paperwork.
The Mir Vsem (Peace Unto All) movement supports clergy in Russia and abroad who have faced persecution for an anti-war stance. The inTransit project evacuates people from Russia to Georgia, Armenia, Montenegro, and Kazakhstan and helps them obtain documents for later emigration to EU countries. Other evacuation groups named by Meduza are NC SOS Crisis Group, designated “extremist” in Russia, Marem, which serves residents of the North Caucasus, and Rapid Unit, which evacuates activists, journalists, and human rights defenders.
One of Armenia’s leading independent human rights organizations, founded in 1998, gives legal aid to Russians detained by Armenian authorities at Moscow’s request.
Grigory Sverdlin, former director of the homeless-assistance group Nochlezhka, launched Idite Lesom (“Get Lost”) in September 2022 to help Russians avoid mobilization or leave the military. With volunteer lawyers, psychologists, and others, it helps people live at addresses other than their official registration, leave Russia illegally, flee training units, and surrender on the battlefield. More than 85,000 people have sought its help over four years. Russian authorities labeled it a “foreign agent” in 2025. Prizyv k Sovesti and the Conscientious Objectors Movement also help Russians flee military service.
In April 2025, politician and former political prisoner Ilya Yashin said he was opening a public assistance office for Russians in Europe, working as his office did when he was a municipal council member in Moscow’s Krasnoselsky district. The office is meant to help people understand the law, draft requests to officials, and prepare affidavits for court. Iskra provides legal aid focused on dealings with European banks.
The Russian Anti-War Committee, designated an “undesirable” and “terrorist” organization in Russia, formed in late February 2022 and brings together opposition politicians, activists, and journalists. Its website says it opposes the war, collects humanitarian aid for Ukraine, and helps Russians with problems abroad. Its Consuls initiative is meant for emergencies such as deportation to Russia or denial of temporary or permanent residency or refugee status. The consuls work in the United Kingdom, Germany, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland, France, Montenegro, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia, and the United States.
Gorizonty, established with support from Sergey Lagodinsky, a Russian-speaking German member of the European Parliament, helps Russians obtain humanitarian visas to Germany, France, and other EU countries. By mid-2024, more than 600 people had received visas to Europe with its help. Reporters Without Borders, designated “undesirable” in Russia, assists journalists, and Artists at Risk assists cultural professionals.
A volunteer group designated “undesirable” in Russia was founded by Ksenia Maximova, a local council member in London. It helps Ukraine, political prisoners in Russia, and Russians in the United Kingdom. In 2025 it secured the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Russia and Democracy, whose work includes problems faced by Russians in exile. That year the Russian Democratic Society also launched an emotional support group for people adjusting to life in a new country.
Russian America for Democracy in Russia, designated “undesirable” in Russia, unites emigrants in the United States “who strive for freedom and democracy in Russia, as well as for the victory of Ukraine in the war.” Two of its leaders have been added to Russia’s list of “terrorists and extremists.” It runs chats in Miami, Sacramento, New York, Denver, Seattle, Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., and advises on immigration rules and political asylum. After U.S. authorities made asylum harder to obtain, it began helping Russians in immigration detention by seeking lawyers, raising money for legal aid, and helping them contact their families.
The charity Ours in the USA grew from a chat for Russian-speaking LGBTQ people in the United States and defends Russian queer refugees seeking asylum. It helps prepare asylum documents, provides emergency housing, and submits reports to the U.N. on violations of queer people’s rights. Russian Seattle for Freedom, founded in Seattle in 2023, describes itself as “a group of concerned Russians” opposing repression by the Russian state. Members answer questions about everyday life and bureaucracy and work with lawyers on asylum.