Family from Russia escaping political prosecution

Hello, my name is Ilya Blazh. I created this fundraiser to help my family escape political persecution in Russia for taking a public stand against the Russian government conducting a full-scale war in Ukraine.

In March of last year, my mom went to the streets of my hometown, Rostov-on-Don, to protest against the war in Ukraine. During the protest, she was arrested and later prosecuted for her political stance. The court found her guilty under the article of "discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation." Under that law, the punishment for the first offense is an administrative fine, but for repeated offenses, the punishment is a jail sentence of up to 15 years.

My mom’s protest is not the only stance my family took against the tyrannical Russian government. They’ve been financially supporting independent mass media and organizations helping political prisoners, volunteering to be independent reviewers at government elections, and speaking out publicly against Putin’s regime for the past 20 years.

Another consequence of my mom’s arrest was that she became followed by Russian intelligence services. Most likely it happened because of the fact that she oversees an organization that helps prevent suicides in youth and has access to a huge database of contacts of young people in Russia.

Given these facts, it became extremely unsafe for them to remain in Russia, and soon after my mom’s arrest, my parents, with three daughters and a son, decided to leave the country and ended up in forced immigration, leaving behind our house in Rostov-on-Don with all their belongings and virtually no resources to live.

They’ve been on the run for a year, hoping that something will change, and they will be able to return back home. Unfortunately, things became even worse. A few months ago, my mom logged into her government web portal to pay some minor bills and accidentally found out that some court in Rostov found her guilty again. This time it was on the basis of another, completely absurd and clearly fabricated case, of which she wasn’t even informed about… As punishment for that case, all of my family’s bank accounts have been arrested, and they’ve been given a warrant that prohibits them from leaving Russia.

Crazy, right?

So, right now, my parents, three of my sisters, and my brother are temporarily residing in Serbia while looking for a new place to live. They want to come to the US to reconnect with me and start building a new life here. The whole process of immigration is very stressful and costs a lot. That’s why I’m asking for your help.

While my savings can help cover their immigration lawyer, food, furniture, and some additional costs, we need help with covering:

Plane tickets for 6 people - around $7,000;

First/last/security/broker - around $10,000;

Another 3 months of rent while they wait for their work authorization documents to be approved - around $7,500.

The total is approximately $25,000.

Thank you for reading my family’s story, and we hope for your help.

P.S. Also, my parents wanted me to note that they are not dependents, but rather compassionate people who are committed to charity. During this past year, while they were on the run, they found and let a few families of refugees from Ukraine live in their house in Rostov for free and are committed to continuing doing so.