If someone who has never been to Russia asks how it feels to live there in 2023, a complete, thoughtful answer can take hours and pages of text. The Telegram format is unlikely suitable for such volumes, so we are going to try and give you a brief summary from within.

First of all, it's necessary to underline that if you are a staunch (or not so staunch) supporter of the Russian President, your life just goes on as it did before. The same is true if you don't support the "Father of the Nation" at all, but somehow you manage to disable your brains and carry on pretending that nothing extraordinary happens. Indeed, you still have food products in your local store, your job, your car, your home, your iPhone, several loans you have to pay out, the same primitive (more or less) entertainment activities and so forth. You even still have got the opportunity to fry your belly under the hot sunlight of Turkey, Egypt or Thailand. What else can you dream of?

But when neither of that is the case for you, when you cannot force yourself to stop thinking, when pretending that everything's just fine does not work - well, that's where you start facing problems. And the first and most important one is loneliness. You are totally alone. There is no way you can speak out on your views and opinions in public, as it dramatically increases your chances to meet the law enforcement system. You cannot talk about it with your colleagues at work, for you never know which one of them is going to squeal on you. In most cases, it is not helpful to talk to your friends either, because they generally tend to avoid such conversations. Finally, you often get no moral support even from your family. Your parents are "patriots", and that immediately puts a thick wall between you and them, when any attempt to argue leads to quarrels and almost hysterical reactions. Your conversations with them become hollow and abstract, and it only makes your depression deeper. You may consider yourself lucky, if you have at least someone (spouse, brother, sister) with whom you can share what bothers you. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, even that is not an option.

Next, legal aspect. You find yourself in a situation when the list of your rights keeps shrinking, while your obligations grow. Remember that cliche from Hollywood movies, "You have the right to remain silent... anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law"? Well, remaining silent is about the only right you still have got in Russia, and the question is for how long. Anything you say, write or post may be used against you, and that is not a figure of speech.

This, naturally, involves the certainty aspect. Certainty is a luxurious privilege you are not entitled to. You cannot be sure about how many people out there are like you. They are alone, just like you, and will never display their true attitude, just like you. You cannot be sure whether you violate the law with your actions or words, as new laws are printed faster than banknotes. Speaking of the banknotes, by the way, there is no certainty about them either. You never know how much value the money will lose tomorrow, and there is no telling when it can literally turn to toilet paper. This is not to mention that the System can deprive you of your money in a single click by just freezing your bank accounts.

Second part >>

Now, safety aspect. In short words, you're not safe here.

<< First part

Traveling by plane is unsafe, for you never know how well that plane you are flying is maintained (maybe not maintained at all, our airlines have already begun to cannibalize idle aircraft for spare parts). Besides, the recent events brought up a brand new risk that your aircraft might be simply brought down by an erroneously launched SAM missile (this is not a joke, see the recent news reports about the situation in the air space around Moscow). Hanging around too much can also be unsafe, because who knows where and when you run into a war veteran with PTSD, totally unpredictable and possibly carrying something lethal with them. This is already a serious problem, which is aggravated by the issue that a significant part of these veterans is represented by ex-convicts that returned home from the battlefront and were granted amnesty for their participation in the war. Finally, just being a male within the age from 18 to 60 is unsafe, too, because the System can decide at any random moment that it wants you for its army. Of course, you still have got some options to avoid this fascinating obligation, but it, firstly, it depends on multiple different aspects, and, secondly, it does not add up anything to your safety at all.

As we said in the beginning, this topic is too large to be described within a single article, so let's try and sum things up. In Russia you are alone, you are unsafe, you can be deprived of your money, profession, freedom and life at any given moment, and nobody around gives a damn about that. Your scarce options are: a) disable your thinking abilities, secure a deal with your conscience and pretend nothing special happens around you; b) emigrate to another country; c) commit a suicide; d) begin to do something that makes some sense. And this is where you come out of your small, cozy zone of comfort and start thinking for real.

​​Who are Roman Nasryev and Aleksey Nuriev?

On 10 April, the Central District Military Court at Yekaterinburg sentenced Roman Nasryev and Aleksey Nuriev, who live in Bakal in the southern Urals, each to 19 years imprisonment. They will serve four years in prison and the remaining 15 years in a strict regime penal colony.

Roman and Aleksey received this harsh punishment for firebombing an administrative building that houses a military registration office.

On 11 October 2022 Roman and Aleksey tried to firebomb the military registration office, since there is no fully-fledged military commissariat in Bakal. The act was symbolic, carried out in response to military mobilisation, and to indicate their opposition to the invasion of Ukraine. As a result of the firebombing, no-one was injured and there was minimal impact on the building. A female security guard was able to put out the fire with a blanket and five litres of water. A window, and some linoleum, were damaged.

Roman and Aleksey were arrested a few hours later. At first, they were charged with deliberate destruction of property by means of arson (Article 167 of the Russian Federal Criminal Code). But after the Federal Security Service (FSB) intervened, the much more serious charge of “committing a terrorist act” (Article 205) was brought.

Some time later, Nasryev and Nuriev were also accused of “undergoing training in order to carry out terrorist activities” (Article 205.3). The evidence of this “training” was a video, found on their phones, which showed them making Molotov cocktails and throwing them on deserted waste ground.

In court, Nasryev did not deny involvement in the firebombing, but rejected the accusation of “terrorism”, and pointed out that he had not undergone any “training in order to carry out terrorist activities”. He drew the court’s attention to the fact that anyone can throw a bottle with flammable liquid in it: no specialist knowledge is required. Nuriev, too, refused to admit to being guilty of “terrorism”.

On 14 July, the human rights defence initiative, “Support Political Prisoners”, organised by Memorial under internationally-agreed criteria, recognised Roman Nasryev and Aleksey Nuriev as political prisoners.

Before his arrest, Aleksey worked for the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as a section chief in the fire and rescue service. Roman worked as a driver for an outsourced security firm. Both friends played in the rock band Room 32. Aleksey wrote poetry; Roman’s great enjoyment was music and, as a hobby, he learned to play a large number of different instruments. Both of them played sports. Roman enjoyed fixing old cars, and fishing.

Lawyers for Roman and Aleksey have lodged an appeal against their conviction, but the case has so far not been sent on to the court of appeal, and no date has been set for it to be reviewed. Until the sentence enters into legal force, Nasryev and Nuriev will be detained at the PFRSI (a premises, functioning as a pre-trial detention centre) IK-2 in Yekaterinburg. You can write letters to them there.

We urge you to support Roman and Aleksey! In prison it is very important to know that you are not alone, and to have contact with the world outside.

💌 Address for letters:
Russia,
620019 Yekaterinburg, ulitsa Malyshev 2b,
IK-2, PFRSI,

Nasryev Roman Raifovich (d.o.b. 1995)
Nuriev Aleksei Talgatovich (d.o.b. 1985)

How to write a letter to a prisoner if you are not in Russia?

Soladarity zone supports Poman Nasryev.

#english

Roman is on the left in the photo.

Black Bridge is a non-commercial secret organization, independent from secret services and governments. At this time, we support revolutionaries across the whole country in their rightful ideas, while continuing to recruit volunteers for out military wing. Our main goal is to ensure safety and support for those Russian citizens, who chose to fight Putin's regime for real, rather than to just talk, to commit partisan warfare actions at the home front, or to fight at the frontier on Ukraine's side.

The so-called "Civilized World" and "outraged Ukrainians" tend to ask us, "Where are your results after one and a half year of war?" Well, here's the answer. Right now, the only thing visible is this: https://t.me/BlackBridgeSupport/446 This is not even a top of the iceberg, it's a snowflake on that top. Almost all the other work remains off-screen. Why is it so?

1. Our goal is to create and develop a revolutionary underground network, not to generate content for entertainment purposes.
2. We have got neither the desire, nor the resources to promote ourselves in the media, while the so-called "good Russians" with a large audience ignore us and refuse to promote our cause even on the paid basis. Therefore, our audience grows "organically", naturally, through "word-of-mouth advertising" and thanks to those who found us on their own.
3. We cannot establish a "revolutionary center" somewhere in the forest and recruit fighters from nearby villages, because we are not in Latin America of the 1950s. These things are obsolete and cannot be applied to our modern reality.
4. No one's got our back. The emigrated "good Russian opposition activists" raise donations to live comfortably out-seas, instead of helping organize a home front base for the Resistance. Moreover, a lot of them were literally grown and fed by Putin's regime, and now they portray themselves as opposition. Some "good Russians" openly condemn violent struggle against Putin's regime, try and dissuade everyone from waging it, and call for doing nothing and waiting. There are also individuals who accuse us of neglecting activists' safety.
5. It is victims who's usually loved more, and those who help the victims. And sometimes those helpers love themselves for helping the victims. Thus, the people who chose not to run away or freeze in awe, but fight, to help not the victims, but fighters, make the aforementioned ladies and gentlemen feel uncomfortable.
6. As a matter of fact, we are forced to wage the war at two fronts at once: we develop violent resistance against Putin's regime, while fending off accusations coming from the "Civilized World" and "outraged Ukrainians", who, for the sake of good impression and out of false patriotism, want to "cancel everything Russian", including us.

In such circumstances the right question does not sound like, "Where are the results?" The right question is, "How do you manage to accomplish anything at all under such conditions?"

The "classic" partisans act as a part of regular armed forces, as raiders operating deep behind the frontier, getting information from the military intelligence, factory-made ammo and explosives. They have got a place where they can return to, take rest and receive some medical assistance. We, on the contrary, are in vacuum. And this is true not only for Black Bridge, but for the Russian Resistance on the whole, as well. That's why every donation and every word expressing gratitude are like a beam of light in the total darkness.

Summary of news concerning the Russian resistance from October 22 to October 29, 2023:

1. In the Vladimir region, resistance members dismantled a surveillance system monitoring railway tracks.
2. In the Moscow region, there was an attempt to instigate an explosion within a military compound; a bag containing flammable liquids and a gas can was discovered near a breach in the fence.
3. Oleg Tsarev, a noted propagandist and war advocate, has been hospitalized in critical condition following an assassination attempt.

Summary of news concerning the Russian resistance from October 29 to November 5, 2023:

1. In a bold strike, rebel forces successfully sabotaged the railway infrastructure, igniting three relay blocks along the critical stretch between Tyumen's twin airports.

2. Suspected homemade bombs were discovered in close proximity to the conscription center in Moscow's Academic district, raising security alarms in the capital.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/624

Summary of the Latest Developments in Russian Resistance Activities, November 5-12, 2023:

1. In the Tula region, saboteurs set fire to a signal control box on a railway line.
2. Security forces have found an improvised explosive device planted on an oil pipeline in the Leningrad region.
3. The Russian Volunteer Corps launched an incursion into the Bryansk region, where they successfully targeted and destroyed the vehicle of an FSB lieutenant colonel.
4. Partisans in the Ryazan region orchestrated the bombing of a railway track, resulting in the derailment of 19 cargo train cars.
5. A gunpowder factory in the Tambov region suffered a significant fire, reportedly preceded by an explosion, according to local witnesses.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/629

Summary of the Latest Developments in Russian Resistance Activities, November 12-19, 2023:

1. In a daring act near Yekaterinburg, partisans successfully demolished a key relay box adjacent to a machine-building facility.
2. Close to the same city, rebels set ablaze another communication box near the Kedrovka station.
3. The Nizhny Novgorod region witnessed the destruction of two additional relay boxes
4. A significant incident unfolded in the Volgograd region, where explosions rocked a military unit, triggering a large-scale fire.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/634

We are launching a fund for the legal defence of Mikhail Balabanov. We need to raise €4600

Twenty-year-old Mikhail Balabanov was detained almost a year ago. The FSB accused him of preparing to firebomb the military recruitment center at Nevinnomyssk. We consider the case against Balabanov to be a provocation by the Russian security services.

The investigating officers claim that Balabanov entered a conspiracy with a representative of Ukrainian intelligence services. And indeed, Mikhail was contacted by someone with the codename “Ben”, claiming to be a GUR [Ukrainian intelligence] operative. Mikhail wanted to avoid being conscripted, and “Ben” promised to arrange this, but in return asked Balabanov to undertake a number of “tasks”. These included making a video recording of conscripts, and of military equipment at the recruitment center’s premises.

When Mikhail arrived at the recruitment center, the security services were waiting there for him. Subsequently, during a search of his home, they “found” a Molotov cocktail. Balabanov has been accused of “preparation of a terrorist act”, and faces the threat of 10 years’ imprisonment.

We believe that it was FSB officers who were corresponding with Mikhail, taking advantage of the fact that he did not want to take part in the attack on Ukraine.

We are starting a fund to pay for Mikhail’s legal representation in court. To continue to defend Mikhail, we need to collect €4600.

✊ We urge you to give Mikhail Balabanov whatever support you can euros, cryptocurrency or a repost!

🪙 PayPal: solidarity_zone@riseup.net (please specify, “for Balabanov”, if possible euros are the preferred currency)

🥷 Cryptocurrencies (please inform us by email to solidarity_zone@riseup.net if you send cryptocurrency to support Mikhail)

Monero: 4B1tm6boA5ST6hLdfnPRG2Np9XMHCTiyhE6QaFo46QXp6tZ7Y6nJjE43xBBTwHM84bWwexR8nS4KH36JHujjc1kC8j2Mx5e

Bitcoin: bc1qn404lrshp3q9gd7852d7w85sa09aq0ch28s3v4

USDT (TRC20):
TRcCUHKSMY7iLJPvbDxLc6ZnvAud72jTgj

#fundraising #english

Summary of the Latest Developments in Russian Resistance Activities, November 19-27, 2023

1. Partisans successfully ignited an electric locomotive in Tyumen.
2. A railway control box, crucial for railway operations, was deliberately set ablaze in the Moscow region.
3. Demonstrating technological prowess, activists from 'Free Bulgaria' launched a kamikaze drone attack on the FSB's (Federal Security Service) territory in Novorossiysk.
4. In a critical blow to the railway network, equipment essential for the functioning of a major marshalling station in Novosibirsk was destroyed.
5. The Russian Volunteer Corps has broken into the global media scene with an exclusive interview in The Guardian, one of Britain's leading newspapers.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/641

Summary of the latest Russian Resistance Activities, November 27 - December 3, 2023:

Buryatia witnessed one of the war's most significant railway attacks. Partisan forces blasted two freight trains, resulting in the destruction or damage of 24 fuel tanks.

Meanwhile, a major fire engulfed the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, a key facility in the production of engines for Russian tanks. Eyewitnesses in the vicinity reported a loud explosion preceding the blaze.

Adding to the series of sabotage incidents, Dagestan experienced its first railway equipment arson. A relay box at the Buinaksk station was completely destroyed.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/645

Summary of Russian Resistance Activities, December 3-11, 2023:

1. In Buinaksk, Dagestan, a cell phone tower was engulfed in flames.
2. An attempt was made to cause an explosion at a recruiting station in Novosibirsk.
3. Partisans in Udmurtia ignited a fire at an electrical substation. Further intensifying the situation, these groups have issued threats to workers involved in military production.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/649

Summary of Russian Resistance Activities, December 11-17, 2023:

1. An unidentified group targeted a transformer station near Zhukovsky Airport
2. The railway tracks in Omsk, crucial for the area's industrial communication, suffered significant damage following an act of sabotage
3. Ukrainian Intelligence reports breach on Russian Tax Service
4. Continuing the wave of resistance, another relay box in Krasnodar was set on fire

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/654

An overview of the resistance activities in Russia in 2023.

It is important to clarify that the following data represents a conservative estimate, as it includes only the incidents that we have reported on this year. There are undoubtedly many other acts of resistance that have gone unreported in the media. Our analysis encompasses both successful and audacious guerrilla operations, as well as those that were less successful. However, we have deliberately excluded incidents that appeared to be setups by the FSB.

Topping the list of resistance activities is the railway sector:

A total of 114 arson attacks on relay cabinets were recorded, spanning a broad geographic area.
There were 16 instances of train derailments. While not all of these are confirmed as acts of partisans, indications suggest a strong likelihood.
Additionally, there were 18 other acts of sabotage against the railway infrastructure, such as track damage and vehicle arson.

Other significant resistance activities include:

Over 60 attacks targeting military registration and enlistment offices, as well as mobilization points.
32 actions against security forces, notably an explosion at the FSB building in Rostov-on-Don.
23 incidents of unexplained fires at military-industrial facilities.
18 efforts aimed at destroying symbols or vehicles bearing the "Z" insignia.
17 attacks on oil and gas pipelines, power lines, and cell towers.
16 guerrilla operations using UAVs, including a notable attack on the Kremlin, which military experts believe was launched from within Russian territory.
11 cyber operations conducted by digital partisans.
9 assaults on administrative buildings and regional authority representatives.
Destruction of 6 pieces of military equipment, including Su-27 and Tu-22 aircraft.
6 significant border crossings by Russian volunteers joining the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
4 assassination attempts on propagandists and warmongers.

In total, there were over 350 acts of resistance in 2023, averaging roughly one action per day.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/658

KYC? No, thanks

An article about the true threads of “know your client” and “anti money laundering” policy

KYC processes aim to combat terrorist financing, money laundering, and other illicit activities. On the surface, KYC seems like a commendable initiative. I mean, who wouldn't want to halt terrorists and criminals in their tracks?

Under the rhetoric of "ensuring our safety", governments and institutions enact regulations that seem more out of a dystopian novel, gradually taking away our right to privacy.

Read more: https://blog.kycnot.me/p/kyc-no-thanks

Summary of the Latest Developments in Russian Resistance Activities, January 1-14, 2023:

1. A Su-34 bomber aircraft was engulfed in flames at a military airbase in Chelyabinsk.
2. A fuel tank explosion occurred on the railway tracks in Nizhny Tagil.
3. In St. Petersburg, the apartment door of Z-propagandist Trofim Tatarenkov was deliberately set ablaze.
4. An oil depot and additional facilities in Oryol were targeted by three kamikaze drones.
5. A significant fire broke out in a workshop of a company in the Moscow region, known for producing polymer materials for military use.
6. The headquarters of the 70th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment in Chechnya was destroyed by fire.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/665

Summary of the Russian Resistance Activities, January 14-21, 2023:

This week witnessed several drone attacks:

1. In the Bryansk region, unmanned aerial vehicles effectively targeted an oil depot.
2. In the Leningrad region, drones were used to detonate an explosion at the Novatek port terminal.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/672

Summary of the Latest Developments in Russian Resistance Activities, January 21-28, 2024:

1. Supporters of the Russian Volunteer Corps assaulted the railway infrastructure in the Novosibirsk region, leading to the derailment of a cargo train.
2. A drone targeted and set ablaze an oil terminal in the Bryansk region.
3. Airboats plant, supplying the Russian military, was engulfed in flames in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/676

Summary of the Latest Russian Resistance Activities, January 29 - February 4, 2024:

A reported attempt to strike the refinery located in Yaroslavl.
An assault on the New Mazut facility in St. Petersburg.
An explosion and subsequent extensive fire at the Lukoil facility in Volgograd.

Additional Reports:

The Freedom of Russia movement has disclosed the strategic placement of explosives at the entrance of the Permmetall factory.
A simulated improvised explosive device (IED) was found on railway tracks in the Rostov region.
The Atesh partisan group successfully incapacitated a relay cabinet in the Tambov region.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/685

Summary of the Latest Developments in Russian Resistance Activities, February 5-12, 2024:

1. Belarusian cyber activists breached the database of the Orlan drone manufacturer, subsequently transferring the acquired data to Ukraine.
2. A relay box in St. Petersburg was deliberately ignited.
3. A coordinated assault targeted an oil refinery in the Oryol region, involving the destruction of a relay cabinet along a railway line and a drone attack on the oil depot itself.
4. At a freight terminal in the Rostov region, simulated explosive devices are repeatedly discovered.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/687

Latest Russian Resistance Activities, February 13-25, 2024:

1. In Izhevsk, a significant fire broke out in a facility repurposed to serve the military enterprise, Izhevsk Unmanned Systems.
2. To commemorate the assassination of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a symbolic act of arson was carried out at the office of United Russia in the Moscow region.
3. Cyber activists breached the databases of Roskomnadzor, resulting in the public disclosure of personal information pertaining to its employees and executives.
4. In Moscow, vehicles and the premises of the “Call of the People” organization, known for its support to the military and engagement in delating activities, were subjected to vandalism.
5. Partisans rendered KAMAZ trucks inoperative, preventing their deployment to the conflict in Ukraine.
6. The vehicle of an individual involved in the war was set ablaze in the Moscow region.
7. The Freedom of Russia movement disclosed an incident involving the detonation of a fuel and oil tank in the Voronezh region.
8. An attempt by a member of the People's Self-Defense group to target a war criminal and an FSB officer was thwarted, leading to the immediate detention of the activist.
9. A coordinated assault was executed against the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works, involving a drone and an improvised explosive device (IED); the drone strike initiated a fire within the facility.

https://t.me/HeraldOfRebellion/707