July 18, 2024

"No One Should be Alone..."


"No One Should be Alone..."
An anonymous human rights defender. Novaya Vkladka

The human rights project OVD-Info was created in 2011 to help those detained at protests. It currently has more than five thousand volunteers. They not only process requests from people participating in mass protests, but also perform other tasks: decipher audio recordings, search for information, edit and translate texts, provide IT support and design.

D. ​​[name withheld for security reasons] has been working as an OVD-Info volunteer for six years. Drafting appeals to the ECHR, staff duty during large protests, and appeals are her usual to-do list.

According to the volunteer, it is important for her to engage in activities that are useful to other people: “If I didn’t do this, it would be worse for me.”

The most difficult time for D. is the emergency mode during large-scale protests, which in the internal language of OVD-Info is called “headquarters”.

"No matter how hard you try to take care of yourself, you can't. But perhaps the headquarters are what pulled me out when the war started. Because you have no time to think about yourself, it's easier for you to sit and cry because of other people [who were detained]."

In 2022, a police officer detained N. when she was hanging posters with anti-war slogans around St. Petersburg. N. is over 55 years old [her exact age is not given for security reasons], she sells books, and believes that "the city should speak" - she helps with this with her graffiti and stickers.

From the police department, N. called the OVD-Info hotline and a project advocate came to the department, helped the woman and even later managed to get the fine reduced.

Volunteer D. has firmly decided to stay in Russia, in order to help those who need help the most: "Who among us hasn't thought about leaving? But I think I'm not that old yet, I can clearly live to see better times."

And N. describes what's happening this way: "It's not just a time for small deeds, but for things that are completely sealed in asphalt." The most important thing for a woman now is to maintain her sense of self-worth and maintain ties with loved ones. And also "to do something beautiful, peaceful and beloved, if there is such an opportunity."

More stories about the lives of OVD-Info volunteers can be found (in Russian) at New Tab.

Translated from Bumaga summary.

Tags: youthdissent

You Might Also Like

With Mouths Sewn Shut
  • July 15, 2022

With Mouths Sewn Shut

Art is a powerful realm for protest. The Ukraine War has inspired a new wave of brave works.
Playwright and Director Sentenced
  • July 16, 2024

Playwright and Director Sentenced

The theater director and playwright have been in pre-trial detention for over a year on charges of "justifying terrorism." Now they've been sentenced.
A Mathematician in Prison. Again
  • February 28, 2024

A Mathematician in Prison. Again

Political prisoner Azat Miftakhov was arrested on charges of "justifying terrorism" immediately after being freed.
Piercing Russian Propaganda
  • May 12, 2022

Piercing Russian Propaganda

Russia's independent media has been destroyed in the wake of the Ukraine war. Which fearless outlets continue to report and need your help?
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Fearful Majesty
July 01, 2014

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955