July 01, 2025

The Persecution Doesn't Stay at Home


The Persecution Doesn't Stay at Home
A threat left on Sasha Kazantseva's Vilnius mailbox reading "Hello from Tselitel," a homophobic group. SotaVision, Telegram.

On June 24, a LGBT rights activist reported on Telegram that homophobic groups from Russia were still harassing her in exile in Lithuania. The harassers left a message on her mailbox in her Vilnius apartment reading, "Hello from [Imperia] Tselitelya," referring to a homophobic group.

Sasha Kazantseva is a sex educator and LGBT rights activist with over 26,000 Instagram followers and 42,000 members in her Telegram channel pomyla ruky ("washed hands"). On June 24, she wrote on her Telegram, "[They] are looking for me, today [they] came to my house in Vilnius. I want to say it publicity, because if something happens to me, it's better that more people know." Kazantseva said the homophobic Russian group targetting her is Imperia Tselitelya ("Empire of the Healer").

Kazantseva and the news channel SotaVision published a video to Telegram originally uploaded to Imperia Tselitelya's closed channel. The recording showed an unknown person approaching a group of houses. Then, the cameraman recorded a mailbox with the inscription.

This latest intimidation is just the tip of the iceberg. Kazantseva said that the extremist group organized a bot attack against LGBT accounts, including her own. On June 20, SK SOS, a group which protects queer persons in the Northern Caucasus, revealed it was also attacked by bots.

According to Kazantseva, Imperia Tselitelya has been trying to physically harm her. The activist said she suspects that, on the day of the attack, a man arrived with the intention of assaulting her, but she wasn't home. According to SotaVision, Imperia Tselitelya confirmed a member went to her house. The group said, "We missed Sasha, decided to stop by, eat [something], but [the house] was empty." The group then doxxed her, publishing her address online.

In March, the Russian Ministry of the Interior included Kazantseva on a list of wanted persons. The authorities did not specify why she is wanted.

You Might Also Like

Russia's War on Books
  • May 22, 2025

Russia's War on Books

Police in arrested 10 current and former employees of Russia's largest publishing house on charges of "LGBT propaganda."
Clownworld Comes to Russia
  • May 18, 2025

Clownworld Comes to Russia

A court in Novgorod fined a man for LGBT-linked extremist propaganda for using an absurdist meme.
Women's Rights in Wartime
  • March 04, 2025

Women's Rights in Wartime

Women's rights activists face increased pressure and reduced domestic violence resources in Russia.
Making a List
  • January 27, 2025

Making a List

The Ministry of Internal Affairs may be creating a database of LGBT persons to make future prosecutions easier.
Stop the Parties!
  • December 02, 2024

Stop the Parties!

Moscow police raided three nightclubs to "fight LGBT propaganda."
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955