Texts

Olga Bukhanovskaya, chief medical officer at the “Phoenix” Medical and Rehabilitation Research Centre, spoke of a ‘transgender epidemic’ at the 18th Congress of Russian Psychiatrists. Bukhanovskaya claims that in Russia there is a ‘fifth column within the medical profession’ engaged in “propagating transgenderism”, comprising “trans-LGBT-friendly doctors”. A psychiatrist proposes distinguishing between ‘transsexualism’ 
from “transgender spectrum … “Transgender spectrum disorders” and a step towards the legalisation of “conversion therapy”

We are publishing a comic about the experience of living through wars, submitted to us by an anonymous artist as part of our Anti-War Inktober 2022. The author says: “Even if all our lives we’ve been surrounded by war, militarism, and the normalization of violence, we still need to try to imagine the possibility of … “For all these 30 years, my country has either been shooting or preparing to shoot”

Every year on May 9th, commemorative events are held in big cities across Europe, such as Vienna, Berlin, Frankfurt, and Madrid, among others to mark the “Victory day” – a celebration of the Soviet victory in World War II. The most visible is the Immortal Regiment (“Бессмертный полк”), a procession framed as a peaceful, grassroots … Hijacked Memory: Russia’s Pro-War Narrative in Victory Day Celebrations in Europe

The Feminist Anti-War Resistance, with the support of the “Future Russia” (Switzerland), has sent an official letter of protest to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). In July 2025, the Russian delegation (Valentina Matviyenko, Leonid Slutsky, and others) spoke in Geneva at the invitation of the IPU, and Matviyenko also addressed the Summit of Women Speakers of … Protest Against the Invitation of the Russian Delegation to the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament and The Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament

In 1920, the USSR became the first country to legalize abortions at the request of a woman, but four years later the right to abortion was limited, and in 1936 there came out a decree banning abortions altogether. In this article, gender researcher Sasha Talaver tells how the abortion ban in the USSR affected women. … “I don’t have the strength to bear two children a year”: how Soviet women asked to lift the abortion ban

We spoke with Maria Andreeva, a member of The Way Home, a movement of relatives of conscripted men. Their activists are fighting for the return of their drafted husbands and calling for the complete demobilization of Russia’s civilian population. The Way Home has been one of the most visible protest movements in Russia over the … “That’s Not Patriotism, It’s Teaching Kids To Barbarically Romanticize War”: An Interview with Wife of a Conscript Maria Andreeva

Readers might be familiar with the online diary of Nastya Travkina, a journalist and writer – and Russian citizen – living in Kyiv who shares near-daily accounts of her experiences during the war. But Nastya’s diary covers more than just her own experiences. It also features sharp political reflections on Russian military aggression and musings on … ‘I suppose I just wanted someone to know what I was thinking before I died’: an interview with Nastya Travkina

In late August, Russian state media announced that architects were developing a Russian “grand style” that would strengthen the nation. [Translator’s note: in Russia, the phrase “grand style” (bol’shoi stil’) is most often associated with architecture built under Louis XIV and Stalin.] News simultaneously broke about plans to erect “lighthouses of the Russian world” in … “Who Cares about the Purges? I’m Here for the Rest of the ‘30s”: The Architects of Russia’s New “Grand Style”

We spoke with journalist, LGBT activist, and writer Elena Kostyuchenko. Elena travelled to Ukraine on the second day of the full-scale Russian invasion and spent five weeks on the front lines. It was Elena’s investigation that had confirmed the presence of Russian troops in the Donbas back in 2014. Over her 17 years at Novaya … “One Article Won’t Tear Down the Concentration Camp Walls”: An Interview with Journalist Elena Kostyuchenko

Over the past two decades, Russia has seen an uptick in policies limiting access to abortion. Several new measures were introduced in 2023, including stricter regulation of medical abortion drugs, laws imposing liability for ‘inducement to abort’ in the Republic of Mordovia and Tver Oblast, and some private clinics’ refusal to offer abortions in certain … Protecting life from conception: The Russian Orthodox Church’s anti-abortion rhetoric as part of a global traditionalist agenda