Russian domestic violence charity to close citing difficulties caused by ‘foreign agent’ status

A leading Russian NGO set up to assist victims of domestic violence is set to cease operations, its founder announced on Wednesday, citing complications caused by its status as a “foreign agent”.

Writing on the Nasiliu.net website, Anna Rivina noted that this year would have marked the centre’s 10th anniversary. Over the past decade, Rivina added, the organisation had helped over 10,000 people, while media coverage of its projects had reached millions more.

“We survived being designated a ‘foreign agent’, we survived 24 February, we withstood the laws constantly being tightened,” Rivina wrote, adding that “an ever greater number of people” were now afraid to contact the charity due to its “foreign agent” status. The noose, Rivina wrote, “keeps tightening, and we no longer have the scope to work.” 

Despite the centre’s closure, Rivina said that its team of lawyers and psychologists would continue providing independent support to victims of domestic violence.

Nasiliu.net, which translates as No To Violence, reported that it was cutting back some areas of its work due to financial and technical difficulties in June. The centre, which was set up to provide free legal aid, psychological care, and support services to victims of domestic abuse, was also forced to suspend key programmes and cut back its 24/7 support.

Originally conceived as an awareness-raising initiative in 2015, Nasiliu.net received its certification as a nonprofit organisation in Russia in April 2018, by which time it had already arranged support for thousands of victims of domestic violence. 

In December 2020, it was added to the Justice Ministry’s register of “foreign agents”, a list to which Rivina was added in 2023 herself.