Please Welcome

Boris, Mariia,  & Ivan

First to arrive, Mariia and Boris are Russian dissidents, medical doctors, and anti-war activists. They supported Alexei Navalny’s opposition to the Putin regime and campaigned against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After constant harassment by Russian police, they fled to the US in April 2022 and requested political asylum. They ended up at a privately run detention camp in Louisiana, where they endured horrific mistreatment including limited drinking water, substandard meals, and overcrowded and unsafe living conditions. With your support we were able to pay for the bond to secure their release, and bring them here to Delaware County.

The community has opened its hearts to them: they have temporary housing, English lessons, legal aid, food deliveries, dinner invitations. They are touched and grateful for this support, and settling into their new life here.

Recently, Boris’s cellmate Ivan was released from detention. He will also need the same support that the community extended to Mariia and Boris. With this in mind, we have extended our goal an additional $20,000 to get Ivan settled, and continue our support of Mariia and Boris. We are currently searching for housing for all three of them starting April 2023. We also hope to raise enough to buy an inexpensive car and support them financially until they are able to secure work permits. Other than money, offers of food, transportation, accommodation, and above all friendship, are greatly appreciated.

Refugee Stories

Boris & Mariia

Russia

Boris and Mariia are Russian dissidents and medical doctors who have been active supporters of Alexei Navalny’s opposition to Vladimir Putin’s regime and campaigners against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After constant harassment by Russian police Mariia and Boris fled to the US and requested political asylum. They ended up at a privately run detention camp in Louisiana where they have endured horrific mistreatment including limited drinking water, substandard meals, and overcrowded and unsafe conditions.

After months of effort, they have finally arrived in Delaware County and are settling into their new life.

Ivan Sokolovsky

Russia

“My name is Ivan Sokolovsky, I’m 25 years old. All my life I lived in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. I worked as an accountant in a large state bank. In 2014, Vladimir Putin captured Crimea and started a war in Ukraine to seize power in it. This event prompted me to take part in the protests. One of these protests was in January 2021 when the well-known oppositionist Alexei Navalny in Russia was poisoned by Russian special services with combat chemical weapons, which are prohibited for use and even storage. Alexei was arrested by the Russian police when he was returning from Germany, where he underwent long-term treatment after his poisoning. In connection with this event, peaceful processions were held in my city demanding the release of Alexei Navalny from prison. At one of these processions I was detained by the Russian police and fined under a fabricated article. After that, my boss forced me to write a letter of resignation, and my other colleagues were forbidden to go to such meetings under threat of dismissal. After that, I was summoned for interrogations and preventive conversations in the police department, where I was threatened with criminal imprisonment if I continued to go to protests further. Several times I tried to get a job in other Russian banks, but it was unsuccessful. The security services of banks refused me because I had previously been convicted. I appealed my case to the European Court of Human Rights, but Russia simply stopped paying compensation and completely broke off all ECHR relations.