Report on our work

Dear Foundation Staff, From the bottom of my heart, I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the financial support you have provided to our family. Thanks to your help, we are coping with the difficulties we face and have felt the care and attention from compassionate people. I am sincerely grateful to everyone who is involved in this good cause. We are an ordinary large family that once lived a quiet life. In 2024, everything changed. I was left alone with three children — my youngest daughter was only one year old. After my husband’s arrest, our family began to experience serious financial difficulties. We went through a lot. My husband and I have many friends and relatives, but when the hardships came, only a few reached out to help. Even our relatives refused to support us. Because of constant stress and worry, I’ve started to have health problems. Thanks to your assistance, I can send monthly parcels to my husband and buy food for the children. Life has become much easier. May your work continue to bring joy and support to many families in need. Life gives back, and the good you do will surely come back to you.

I would like to express my deep gratitude for the tremendous help you provide to the families of political prisoners. My sister is a political prisoner in Russia who could not and would not stay silent. Now, every day, we live with pain and anxiety for her fate. In a world where injustice becomes commonplace, and speaking the truth can land you behind bars, your foundation remains one of the few voices of conscience and hope. You not only provide material support — which, in the conditions of the war in Ukraine, is a key to survival — but also help us remember that we are not alone. You make it clear that distance and borders do not hinder solidarity and do not cancel out compassion. Thank you for your humanity and empathy. With you, it is easier to believe that justice will prevail.

When my husband was arrested, I was desperate: not only was it a great personal tragedy but he was also our family’s only provider at that time. I was expecting, the pregnancy had complications, and I couldn’t work. Because of the article under which my husband was charged, he was immediately added to the Ministry of Justice’s list of “persons involved in extremist and terrorist activities” which implies an automatic freezing of bank accounts, and our family had no other means of living! Which means that I found myself literally without a cent while pregnant and as the sole carer of our elder daughter. It would not be an exaggeration to say that a few weeks after my husband’s arrest we simply had nothing to eat. I cannot even imagine what we would have done without the support of the Foundation! Your help was truly invaluable! This money helped us make ends meet. Had we continued starving, I might not have been able to carry my child to term (it’s scary even to think about it). Thanks to you, we are all alive and well. An immense thank you to the Foundation and all caring people who help families like ours. Now we are together again, and I am trying to forget those scary days like a bad dream. It is impossible, however, to forget your help. Thank you so much for being there and for supporting us during difficult times!

When I got pregnant with Miron, two FSB operatives came to my place of work and demanded that I be fired. This affected my health and my pregnancy. After that I couldn’t find work for a long time, and I knew that even if I had been able to find it, nothing wouldn’t have prevented them from coming to my new place of work to tell my employers that I was the wife of a terrorist and promise them trouble if they didn’t fire me. At the time I was paying huge credit card fees and a third of my pay went to cover the mandatory unemployment insurance. However, I was unable to use this insurance because my dismissal was made to look like a voluntary resignation. I filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office but the law does not protect the citizens of this country anymore. The prosecutor’s office was not even interested to know that I was pregnant or that at the time of my dismissal I was on sick leave. As a jobless woman with a husband in jail, I could not apply for normal benefits and payments. When a representative of the Foundation contacted me, I could not believe that there were people who cared about what happened to us. That while the regime protects only its own financial interests, there are people who assumed the role of defending and supporting their compatriots. This was basically the first sunny day after many years of darkness. While the regime is trying to destroy our lives, you offer practical help, and thanks to you we don’t have to choose between a conjugal visit with Dima and educational activities for Miron, between healthy food for our kid and chargeable phone calls to prison. Over the last eight years, the regime has brought us so much pain that I don’t know how we would have coped without you. You are our pain reliever and the support that helps us hold on for as long as needed until Russia becomes free. Thank you for all you are doing. Anastasiia Pchelintseva

I want to express my deep gratitude to the Foundation and to people who are not indifferent to the misfortune of others. Thanks to kind people’s support I can ensure that my child has good living and learning conditions. It both inspires and touches me that people who find themselves in a difficult life situation are offered such help and support. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Thank you so much for the help! I have six kids, and this financial support has really helped me to educate and clothe my children! My deepest thanks to you for this assistance. I wish you all good health, happiness, and success in your work!

I am very grateful to the Foundation for its support. My brother is in a strict regime prison instead of the general regime facility assigned by the court, and he is not allowed to work there. Thanks to your help, he is able to buy essentials in the prison store. It has also made things a bit easier for me — I’m raising a child alone without alimony. I’m especially grateful for the support for my brother. The rules there are very strict: if he’s unshaven, he’s sent to a punishment cell, and a razor costs money, but he isn’t allowed to work in strict regime. Of course, this is just a small everyday example. Anonymity and safety are very important to me. Thank you so much!

The foundation’s funding is essential. Support for the families of political prisoners is extremely important — both morally and materially. It enables families to provide additional help to their loved ones in detention: sending food parcels, traveling for visits, working with lawyers, and subscribing to newspapers and magazines. Prisoners know that people support them and that they are not forgotten. In these difficult times, any help makes a difference. Personally, I am very grateful to the foundation for its support.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to the Foundation for supporting families whose loved ones are behind bars. I truly admire the people who do this kind of work — helping others, giving their personal time, energy, resources, and emotions, and providing both moral and material support. I am sure that all the good you do will come back to you many times over, and that happy and just times will come soon. My deepest respect to you, and I wish you all the best in your noble work! Thank you so very much!

I’m now left alone with two children to take care of. On top of that, my older daughter goes to school in another town. These days, even two parents struggle to raise children, and in our situation it’s even harder. That’s why your help means so much to me. I’m truly grateful for your care — it supports me not only financially, but also emotionally.

I want to say a huge thank you to the Foundation for providing financial support to political prisoners and their families. In these difficult times, when the number of political prisoners continues to grow, it is so important not to leave them alone with their troubles and to support families who are facing a very challenging situation without a source of income. We are deeply grateful to your Foundation for the financial and moral support you’ve given to our family. Thank you so much!

Pain, despair, hopelessness, injustice, and loneliness… These are the main feelings my family lives with. What your help and support mean to us is knowing that we are not alone — that there are people who understand us rather than judge us. And that means there is at least a small ray of hope… Financial assistance isn’t about luxuries like fur coats or jewelry. It’s shoes for our children, utility bills, thermal clothing, food, and medicine for my husband in the prison colony. It’s essential. It matters. THANK YOU!

On behalf of our family, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Foundation for the help. A huge thank you to all of you for making our world brighter and for not leaving us alone in a difficult life situation. By offering support, you give people hope. May you be rewarded for your kindness with good health and good fortune! We wish you health, prosperity, and warmth on your life’s journey ☘ Without your support, we wouldn’t have managed.

Thank you so much! I needed this support so badly right now! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! You are saving my son and me. I am deeply, deeply grateful to you!

Your foundation helps families who have found themselves in difficult situations without the support of a husband. This is a great financial support for those on maternity leave with small children. Thank you.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the financial assistance you have provided to me and my family. This support is extremely important for caring for my children and for preparing parcels for my husband in the detention center.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for your support and help during such a difficult time! Your assistance means so much, especially when a loved one is in need and I’ve found myself in a difficult situation with my children. I truly wish that the kind people who help others will have only good things in their lives. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of my loved ones!