Our Projects

Russian America for Democracy in Russia supports isolated and lesser-known political prisoners and abducted Ukrainian civilians in Russian prisons — those without publicity or fundraising efforts behind them.

Many of these individuals are held under harsh conditions meant for violent offenders. With no outside support, they often go without essentials like food parcels, hygiene items, medicine, and money for basic needs. Only a few dedicated volunteers know their names or stories.

Why Your Help Matters

Each of these prisoners lives in conditions that threaten their physical and psychological well-being. They suffer from poor nutrition, inadequate medical care, and relentless psychological pressure. The prison system is designed to destroy their health, break their will, and erase their hope.

To survive in prison, a political prisoner needs about 5,000 rubles per month — the equivalent of just $50. That may seem like a small amount, but for them, it can mean the difference between survival and despair.

Your support gives them more than just food or medicine — it gives them strength, dignity, and a lifeline to the outside world. It reminds them they are not forgotten.

By helping, you become their support. You become their hope.

What Your Donations Provide

• Parcels with food and hygiene products to help maintain health.
• Medicines, which are vital in conditions of poor nutrition and limited medical care.
• Replenishment of prison accounts, allowing political prisoners to purchase essential items from prison stores.

RADR partnered with the “Political Prisoners Support. Memorial” project, which reviews and audits the names of political prisoners we support, along with all project expenses, to confirm accuracy on a monthly basis.

Thanks to your regular help, we can preserve the health, dignity, and hope of those invisible heroes who find themselves in the most difficult conditions.

Your support is the life of a political prisoner!

Donate via PayPal — regular monthly support keeps the aid flowing.

Freedom Birds for Ukraine is a volunteer-led fundraising campaign launched in 2022 to support Ukraine’s courageous resistance against Russian aggression.

The campaign raises donations for both Ukrainian defenders — such as consumer reconnaissance drones, thermal imaging devices, and vehicles — and humanitarian aid for civilians, including power banks and evacuation assistance. A dedicated team of volunteers in the U.S. and Ukraine handles all coordination and logistics.

With no administrative or overhead costs, 100% of donations go directly to the intended purposes. We regularly publish reports on funds raised and aid delivered to ensure full transparency.

FBU Website

Visit freedombirds.us — the project’s own site with reports on funds raised and aid delivered, plus donation options.

Reports

• FBU — Year of Work Report — the project’s annual report on funds raised and aid delivered.
• Resistance to Evil — a video series with Daria Bogdanova, Evgeniya Chirikova, Dmitry Zakhvatov, and Igor Slabykh.

Selected Media Highlights

• October 20, 2022, Rubic — How Russian Americans help Ukrainian Army
• December 10, 2022, Voice of America — Russian activists in the U.S. help Ukraine, drawing the ire of Moscow

Since spring 2024, nearly all Russians seeking asylum at the U.S. Southern border have been placed in immigration detention — even those who complied fully with CBP One requirements.

Inside detention, they face severe challenges: limited ability to prepare for immigration hearings, restricted access to legal counsel, difficulty communicating with family, and no support for translating documents. Families are being separated, and children are placed in foster care. Many who fled political persecution in Russia now find themselves imprisoned in the United States.

RADR could not stand by and therefore brought together about 40 volunteers for its Detention Project, providing asylum seekers with essential support for their most basic needs.

How We Help

RADR’s Detention Project provides critical support to asylum seekers with:

• Communication: We help detainees connect with their families and friends, and gather essential case documents from loved ones.
• Translation: We offer free translation of legal documents for court proceedings in detention.
• Assistance with Legal Support: We help secure pro bono legal representation and fund legal consultations.
• Post-Release Support: We assist with adaptation and reintegration after release.
• Monitoring: We track issues, collect data, and raise public awareness.

How You Can Contribute

• Make a donation — the funds will go to pay for communication with detainees, postage, lawyers and emergency needs.
• Join as a volunteer by writing to info@democracy4russia.org and put your skills and experience to work for a meaningful cause.

We don’t want people who fled from repressions of the Putin’s regime to end up in American prisons without support and under threat of deportation back to Russia. Please consider supporting our work so that we can continue standing by those who need it most.

Your support is a contribution to saving lives!

Donate to the Detention Project via PayPal

RADR regularly briefs U.S. decision-makers on the situation in Russia, the destructive influence of Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship both in the United States and globally, and the efforts of Russian resistance movements inside the country and throughout the diaspora.

Ukrainian Advocacy

Since 2023, RADR delegates from across the United States have regularly taken part in advocacy campaigns in the U.S. Congress, organized by the UCCA and the American Coalition for Ukraine. These efforts aim to support Ukraine, highlight the importance of Ukrainian resistance for U.S. national security, and bring the voices of Russian Americans into the conversation.

RADR remains the only Russian American organization actively participating in these Ukraine-focused advocacy efforts since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

Russian Advocacy

In March 2024, 30 delegates of Russian America for Democracy in Russia from ten US states gathered in the American capital, Washington, for a two-day advocacy campaign in the US Congress. This campaign became the first ever advocacy of the diaspora of pro-democratic Russians in the US.

During the campaign, the delegates held more than 60 meetings with members of Congress and their offices responsible for international issues and drafting laws. The agenda of the first advocacy day included five key points:

1. Putin’s illegitimacy: Recognition by the U.S. Congress of Putin’s illegitimacy as a leader and acknowledgment of his regime as a dictatorship.
2. Support for Ukraine, including RADR communities’ endorsement of continued military and financial assistance — specifically, support in the House of Representatives for the $60 billion aid package recently approved by the Senate.
3. Russian Democracy Caucus: Establishment of a Russian Democracy Caucus in Congress, aimed at advancing policies to deter Russian aggression and to support Russian resistance to the dictatorship.
4. Political prisoners exchange: Development of a mechanism for the exchange of Russian political prisoners.
5. Sanctions: Expansion of sanctions, including the use of frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia, and additional sanctions targeting Russian war enablers and propagandists.

Our Adaptation Project supports recent immigrants and refugees as they begin their new lives in the United States. We believe that adaptation is not just about survival — it’s about empowerment, dignity, and opportunity.

Through our Business Navigator education course and adaptation chat groups developed for eight cities across the U.S., we provide newcomers with clear, actionable information to navigate daily life, understand local resources, and connect with their new communities.

Business Navigator

The Business Navigator course is designed to assist entrepreneurial newcomers in starting or continuing their small businesses in the U.S. It offers tools, mentorship, and information about business registration, taxes, permits, and accessing local small business support services.

In 2024, Russian America for Democracy in Russia held three free educational courses in Russian for immigrants who would like to start their own business in the United States.

As part of the course, the project’s experts — leading business specialists: consultants, tax specialists, lawyers and entrepreneurs with extensive experience and knowledge — talked about how to plan a business and avoid the most common mistakes, how to register a company, keep accounting and file taxes, obtain licenses, hire employees and give answers to many other questions that interest aspiring entrepreneurs.

Each course consisted of 12 classes, held twice a week online in the format of lectures-presentations and questions and answers. Also, each participant had a unique opportunity to receive free individual consultations with experts on their business idea.

Adaptation Chats in the USA

The adaptation chats — customized for each city — include essential guidance on how to find an immigration lawyer, securing housing, searching for jobs and understanding labor rights, enrolling children in public schools, opening a bank account or debit card, navigating the U.S. health care system and understanding insurance, accessing food, transportation, and language learning resources.

In each city, our adaptation groups provide direct peer-to-peer support to help newcomers understand these and many other essential topics — reducing isolation and making the transition less overwhelming.

“To become a truly strong and effective community, it is important for all of us to support each other, share information, and not be shy about asking questions.”

Moving to another country is always a lot of stress, and without a good knowledge of the language, adaptation in a new place can be a difficult test for new immigrants. How to find an immigration lawyer, housing, work, enroll children in schools, open a bank card, understand health insurance — our adaptation groups will help you understand these and many other issues.

RADR Adaptation Groups — join the Telegram chat of your city:

• Washington, D.C.
• Denver, CO
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Sacramento, CA
• San Diego, CA
• Chicago, IL

RADR’s research work uncovers how the Putin regime projects its influence into the United States. Two long-running projects — Property and Agents — collect and analyze open-source information about Kremlin officials, oligarchs, and pro-Kremlin organizations in the U.S., and pass the findings to U.S. law enforcement and the media.

Property — since 2021, RADR has identified over 40 properties in the U.S. owned by Kremlin officials, oligarchs, and key figures of the Putin regime, with a total purchase value of around $500 million. In February 2022, we uncovered details about Valery Gergiev’s luxury Manhattan apartment — later published in cooperation with The Agency (Proekt).

Agents — research on diaspora, cultural, religious and other groups in the U.S. directly or indirectly financed by official Russian institutions, as well as individuals affiliated with them. RADR was the first to report on the charges against KSORS USA head Elena Branson (FARA, 2022) and New York resident Nomma Zarubina (December 2024).

Findings from both projects are regularly shared with U.S. law enforcement agencies — including the FBI — and have been covered by Voice of America, The New York Intelligencer, The Real Deal, and other outlets.

This project focuses on researching, collecting, and compiling open-source information about real estate in the United States owned by Kremlin officials, oligarchs, key figures in the Putin regime, and their relatives.

About This Project

Launched in 2021, the project has identified over 40 properties in the U.S., with a total purchase value of around $500 million.

In February 2022, we uncovered details about a luxury Manhattan apartment owned by Valery Gergiev, a close associate of Vladimir Putin. We later cooperated with The Agency, a news platform of the investigative outlet Proekt, to publish this information.

Selected Media Highlights

• March 20, 2021, Voice of America — The US is looking for real estate of the Russian elite
• March 10, 2022, New York Intelligencer — The Hunt for Russian Oligarchs’ Luxury
• April 4, 2022, The Real Deal — Search and seizure: oligarch edition

The project is dedicated to researching the activities of pro-Kremlin organizations and individuals in the United States. It focuses on diaspora, cultural, religious, and other groups that are either directly or indirectly financed and supervised by official Russian institutions, as well as individuals affiliated with them.

In 2021, Voice of America, in collaboration with RADR, published several articles about U.S. authorities investigating pro-Kremlin organizations. By the end of that year, the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriot Organizations in the U.S. (KSORS) announced the suspension of its activities.

In March 2022, U.S. law enforcement formally charged the head of KSORS USA, Elena Branson, with acting as an unregistered agent of the Russian government (in violation of FARA), visa fraud, and making false statements to the FBI. Branson had already left the U.S. before the indictment was issued.

In December 2024, RADR was the first to report on official charges against New York resident Nomma Zarubina, who was accused of lying to the FBI about being recruited by the Russian security service (FSB). Additional charges later included transporting prostitutes and providing false information on a U.S. passport application.

Despite the suspension of KSORS, some of its key figures and affiliates have continued engagement with Russian government institutions. Russian “cultural centers” funded by Rossotrudnichestvo remain active in the United States.

Selected Media Highlights

• May 29, 2021, Voice of America — Leaders of “Russian Compatriots” from the US Are Heading to Russia
• June 12, 2021, Radio Liberty — Far from the Kremlin Walls. Politics and Russian Emigrants in the US
• November 20, 2021, Voice of America — Why Leaders of “Russian Compatriots” Have Suspended Their Work in the US

This project is aimed at collecting and distributing information and facts about the war in Ukraine and its consequences for Russians in Russian social networks. The project attracts volunteers for anonymous and safe participation in disseminating information in conditions of total censorship by the Russian state.

About The Project

Why is it important for us to spread information on Russian social networks?

Immediately after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin’s dictatorship banned all independent Russian media in the country. The websites of independent publications are blocked, and other platforms are strictly censored.

There is a dedicated Telegram channel where project participants coordinate their efforts.

What information do anti-propaganda activists spread?

• This war is waged by Putin and his accomplices against both Russians and Ukrainians. It is a war driven by the dictator’s desire for power, luxury, and wealth.
• Information about protests in Russia against the war and mobilization, as well as safe methods of protesting.
• Guidance on how to evade conscription and avoid mobilization.
• Advice on how to urgently leave the country.
• Reports on the inefficiency of the Russian army, its outdated technology, lack of supplies, and the incompetence of its command.

To receive instructions and start anonymously spreading the truth in Russia, write to the project coordinator @info_net_war in Telegram or email info@democracy4russia.org.