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We have collected instructions, recommendations and contacts, which can help you in the chosen country and situation.
Today, many people fleeing the war in Ukraine are ending up in Russia. For some of them, this is the closest destination available; others are evacuated by force.
“Helping to Leave” (Russian: «Помогаем уехать», Pomogayem Uyekhat). This project works with Ukrainians affected by the war, including those forcibly deported to the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories or to Russia. It provides informational, financial, and psychological assistance, and also facilitates evacuation from unsafe areas.
The Civic Assistance Committee (Russian: Комитет «Гражданское содействие», Komitet Grazhdanskoye Sodeystviye). This project is dedicated to helping migrants and refugees as well as protecting their rights across the country. The Civic Assistance Committee provides legal, medical, psychological, and humanitarian assistance.
If you are a survivor of a crime committed by the Russian military, you can contact a coalition of Ukrainian human rights organizations. It collects accounts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Russia’s military action in Ukraine. They will document your case and keep a record.
Below is an instruction that will help you handle an emergency situation while in Russia:
Dial 112 to reach both the police and ambulance services. All calls to this number are recorded. This may turn out to be quite important in the future.
You can also dial 102, which is used only for police-specific calls. In this case, your call might not get recorded.
No, you don’t. Any person can call for police or ambulance assistance, regardless of whether they have documents on them or not.
If your period of stay has expired and you are staying in the country illegally, you could face some problems. These may include a fine or administrative expulsion. If there are problems with your immigration status and the domestic violence situation does not pose an immediate risk to your life, it is safer to contact organizations helping survivors of violence (listed below), as well as organizations working with migrants and refugees (for example, the Civic Assistance Committee).
Unfortunately, police officers in Russia don’t always take domestic violence-related calls seriously enough. For this reason, we recommend telling the dispatcher that your life is in danger. You can start with “I want to report a crime”. Then briefly describe the situation without downplaying the danger (for instance, explain that your partner or relative batters you, threatens to kill you, or beats you so hard that you might die).
You should also say your full name, date of birth, and address. Telling the access code for your intercom system will be useful for the police to quickly get into the entrance lobby.
Please let the dispatcher know if the abuser has a weapon, has previously abused humans or animals, or is addicted to alcohol or drugs.
When the dispatcher receives your message, ask them for the number of your report in the KUSP (Russian: КУСП) — a special register of all incoming reports about criminal and administrative offenses.
Unfortunately, this question is impossible to answer. Sometimes the officers arrive in mere minutes, sometimes it takes them hours to respond.
If the police are responding too slowly, you can submit a complaint via the Interior Ministry’s hotline: 8-800-222-74-47.
You can also dial 112 again, and call the local police dispatch center or the prosecutor on duty (contact numbers can be found online). Try to record your call.
If possible, alert your friends that you are in danger and try to get to a safe place.
Give a detailed report of what has happened. You can write down the sequence of events on a piece of paper in advance. It will help you capture all the details of the incident. You should insist that the police make a detailed interview report.
You will probably get asked how many times you were hit and where. Try to remember everything and explain in as much detail as possible. You should also report any material damage caused by the attack (for example, broken phone, torn clothing, etc.).
If you have suffered prior abuse from this person, tell the police about all cases. Indicate whether you sought medical assistance or contacted the police and whether there were any witnesses. If there were witnesses, give the police their names and contacts.
If you know that the abuser has a weapon, has previously abused humans or animals, or is addicted to alcohol or drugs, let the police know about it.
Ask the officers to help ensure your safety and take the abuser to the police department. Ask for a referral to the medical examiner’s office — this is where you will have your injuries documented.
Read through the documents carefully before signing them. If there are any inaccuracies in your interview report, ask for changes to be made. Make sure you learn your KUSP number from the police — this is the number assigned to your report after it was registered.
The abuser may be taken to the police department to file a report. They can be legally held there for no longer than 3 hours. After that, the suspect is usually released home.
However, if they are suspected of committing a criminal offense punishable with a prison term of more than 3 years, they can be taken into custody.
There is no domestic violence law in Russia; hence, there are no restraining orders as well.
However, the survivor can ask for protection under Federal Law No. 119-FZ of 20 August 2004 on State Protection for survivor, Witnesses, and Other Participants in Criminal Proceedings. This includes close protection services, home or property security, etc. Unfortunately, this law is hardly ever applied to protect domestic violence survivors.
If a criminal case is initiated against the abuser, you can file a request for the prohibition of certain actions as a preventive measure. For instance, the abuser can be prohibited from visiting certain locations, communicating with the survivor, or approaching her within a certain distance.
Unfortunately, there is no domestic violence law in Russia, and the law there does not consider domestic violence to be a crime. Domestic abusers are prosecuted in accordance with the general norms of Russia’s Criminal Code (see, e.g., Articles 111-117) or Code of Administrative Offenses (e.g., Article 6.1.1).
If you have suffered physical abuse, it’s best you go to the closest emergency department. If you have suffered serious injuries and have difficulty moving, you might want to call an ambulance.
Tell the physician what happened, how and where it happened, and where exactly you were hit. Show the signs of physical abuse visible on your body, such as bruises, abrasions, contusions, red skin, etc. Ask the physician to document all of your injuries in detail. Don’t hesitate to explain everything in detail and say exactly who beat you up.
You should tell the physician about any painful sensations inside your body — those may indicate serious injuries.
Ensure that the physician takes down everything you’ve said and writes down the date of the injury. These documents will be essential for forensic medical examination.
Make sure that the physician gives a correct and detailed description of the injuries, their locations, size and age, and the way they were inflicted.
You should also get a certificate stating that you have gone to a health facility for bodily injuries. The certificate must contain your medical record number, admission date, physician’s full name (legible), and medical stamp. It also must indicate your full name and documented injuries.
If a person was admitted to the hospital with signs of physical abuse, healthcare workers are obliged to inform the police. The latter, in turn, must conduct an inquiry and refer the patient for a forensic medical examination. The results of this assessment will determine the charges that could be brought against the offender.
Don’t forget to take pictures of your own bruises so they can be admitted into evidence. On top of that, you might want to collect any evidence of what happened and find witnesses.
Phone numbers:
112 is used to reach both the police and ambulance services.
103 is the emergency medical care line.
No, you don’t. An ambulance must arrive and respond even if you are a non-Russian citizen and are staying in the country illegally.
National (all-Russian) helpline for women survivors of violence: 8-800-700-06-00.
«No to Violence» is a project providing legal and psychological assistance in Moscow. It also offers information support to women affected by domestic abuse.
This “No to Violence” map collected verified non-profit organizations that work with survivors of violence.
The Consortium of Women’s Nongovernmental Associations is an organization providing legal assistance to domestic abuse survivors across the country.
“Axiom” (Russian: «Аксиома», Aksioma) is a human rights project offering legal support to survivors of domestic and sexual violence, police brutality, and labor exploitation. Find a lawyer via this Telegram bot.
«Alternativa» Counseling Center with the support of the Crisis Center for Women INGO (Institute for Non-Discriminatory Gender Relations). The center’s individual and group counseling helps people who are prone to various types of aggressive and violent behavior in close relationships and who want to improve their future and the future of the people they love.
It is (Russian: Сервис «П.О.Л.И.Н.А») a system that sends automated reports to law enforcement and magistrates’ courts on behalf of survivors of violence.
Here you can find emergency action plans for different violence-related situations (physical abuse, stalking, sexual violence, death threats, non-payment of alimony, annulment of marriage, child custody battles, etc.).
There’s also a function that allows you to make a complaint if you’ve suffered from one of the main types of violence. The complaint can be sent to a lawyer for review. For instance, this service helps file a proper complaint against an abuser for beating. The online reporting form contains the key questions and circumstances that should be put in the complaint (for instance, the location and time of the incident, the names of witnesses and their contacts, the nature of injuries sustained).
A mobile app with an alarm button for survivors of domestic violence. At the click, the app will send an SMS with your coordinates to your emergency contacts.
Use this app to find nearby crisis centers and get instructions on what to do if you have experienced violence.
When compiling the instructions, we relied on the help of volunteers and lawyers from different countries. If something went wrong – the organization didn’t respond to you, you found a bug or the instructions weren’t precise enough – tell us about it. Email us at: help@labirint.online
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