Draft First minutes: what human rights defenders usually advise
Draft. Compiled from human rights groups' guides but not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This is not legal advice — check the linked sources and consult a lawyer.
Designations of organisations in this guide: Reforum Help (undesirable). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.
current as of September 25. More: Meduza: the EU changed the rules for asylum seekers (undesirable); First Department: what political asylum is and how to get it (foreign agent); AIDA: Asylum Information Database
Helps anti-war Russians, deserters and people mobilised against their will: evacuation, EU humanitarian visas, temporary housing and support in visa-free countries.
Since October 2025 Germany has effectively closed fast-track humanitarian visas for Russians — ask which options remain.
If Telegram doesn't open: website · team@intransit.help
German organisation supporting conscientious objectors and deserters: asylum advice and advocacy in individual cases.
In 2025–2026 BAMF has been rejecting Russian deserters en masse — apply for asylum with a lawyer.
Germany's largest asylum rights organisation: advice, help finding a lawyer, appeals against refusals.
Help for refugees in the Netherlands: support through the asylum procedure, advice, integration.
Detailed, regularly updated reports on the asylum procedure in each EU country: timelines, detention, appeals, applicants' rights.
A reference database, not a helpline. Use it or UNHCR Help to find a local organisation.
UN Refugee Agency country pages: how to apply for asylum, where to go, local partner contacts.
One of Georgia's oldest human rights groups: strategic litigation, defence of people detained at protests, ECHR applications.
Since 14 March 2026 its general free legal aid is suspended: GYLA runs in 'crisis mode' and takes only strategic cases. For a free consultation, try the Transparency International Georgia legal centre.
Legal advice for people who have left (documents, residence permits, visas, asylum, extradition risk), temporary housing, free psychologists, mutual-aid chats by city.
Lawyers via the Telegram bots @kovcheglive_bot and @EmigrantHelpBot; psychologists and housing via forms on the website. The project was set up with support from the Anti-War Committee, designated 'terrorist' in Russia in March 2026; The Ark itself is a 'foreign agent'.
If Telegram doesn't open: team@kovcheg.live
Free psychologists and lawyers for forced emigrants: migration and visas, taxes, civil law, humanitarian residence; groups and seminars.
A Reforum project of the Free Russia Foundation, designated 'undesirable' in Russia. If you travel to Russia, contacting an 'undesirable' organisation or joining its events can lead to prosecution, so check with a lawyer.
Association of anti-war Russians in the US: helps Russian asylum seekers, including people held in immigration detention.
Since 2025 the US has been detaining and deporting Russian asylum seekers en masse; rights groups advise against crossing from Mexico without a lawyer.