Hello! Thank you for reading us! We’re launching a new project which is called Ask a Russian where we gather questions from people around the world and try to find an answer — through voices of Russians and some necessary context. Please note that this is a pilot article and…

Some unknown people tried to take me and the children “to the police, because we’re all terrorists” I am from Brest, Belarus My entire childhood was spent in a country where people were afraid to discuss politics and speak the truth out loud. Even as a child, I saw how they beat and arrested protesters…

My 6 years old son is growing up without me 4 years ago 4 years ago, I was still on maternity leave. Some time after my son was born, I remembered that I had other plans to fulfil– I wanted to finish my degree in science so I started to look for the…

In Russia, a human life is worth nothing I had a very ordinary life I am 44 years old, an art historian by profession. I was born and raised in the Tver province. I received my education there as well. I worked as a designer in Moscow for a few years and then moved to the…

It blindly moves like a roller, like a tank, crushing human lives I was born in the Soviet Union in 1965, in Rostov-on-Don. My father was a military musician and my mother was a doctor and teacher. They were not dissidents, but rather “silent dissenters”. They didn’t do anything for…

The victor isn’t the smartest, the bravest, the most privileged — the victor is the most stubborn Yuma is an LGBTQ+ activist and feminist. In 2021, BBC included her to the list of “100 Influential Women’’ from around the world. In Russia, Yuma’s family became known after taking part in…

We lost the chance to choose our future My wish is to give my children greater opportunities My name is Zhanna. At the moment, I am in Russia with my family. We are among those many people who would like to leave the country. Everyone has their own reasons for why they make the decision to change their lives…

A handy way how to mark certain people and organisations as traitors of the state What is it? Foreign agent is a status under which some people, NGOs, and media organisations are forced to be registered. Foreign agents are required to label everything they publish, including in social media, with a disclaimer indicating…

But who decides what is “fake”? First steps In 2019, the Russian president signed two vaguely worded anti-fake laws. They prohibited the spread of socially significant information deemed unreliable by the state authorities. In 2020, the anti-fake legislation was extended due to COVID-19. According to lawmakers, they aimed to make illegal any…