Since 2017, the regional government of Chechnya has pursued a “blood cleansing” campaign against LGBTQ+ citizens. There is no way to know how many have been tortured or killed – too often, known and suspected queer Chechens simply disappear. But hundreds have been able to escape with help from the North Caucasus Crisis Response Group (or NC SOS) – whose dangerous and urgent efforts are featured in the award-winning HBO documentary WELCOME TO CHECHNYA by filmmaker (and new NC SOS board member) David France.
Despite international sanctions, Chechnya’s genocidal campaign persists and has spread to other Russian republics. And now, in a terrible escalation, Chechen officials have begun hunting our beneficiaries even after we have helped resettle them outside of Russia. Last October, agents tracked a 23-year-old defendant in neighboring Armenia and murdered her. And in November, a 33-year-old lesbian was intercepted at an airport in the Georgian capital as she was fleeing; she turned up dead a few days later back in Chechnya.
No other initiative in the world is taking on such a perilous mission to save the lives of LGBTQ+ people. Because of our successes, the Kremlin has branded us as “foreign agents,” blocked our website inside Russia, and forced most of us into exile. Making matters worse, the collapse of all US foreign assistance has plunged us into a funding crisis. But we cannot stop this work.
We need your help. To continue saving lives, we must raise at least $275,000 in 2026. Please make your tax-deductible donation here.
“The board of directors retains discretion over the use of funds.”
PHOTO CAPTIONS
TOP: Maxim Lapunov became the first to go public about Chechnya’s official war on gays.
ABOVE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Chechen officers attack a man accused of kissing another man, in a scene from “Welcome to Chechnya.” Torture victim Amin Dzhabrailov, whom we helped resettle in Canada in 2019, speaks out against the regime. Presumed dead: (from top left) Aliya Ozdamirova, Zelim Bakaev, Aishat Baimuradova, and Seda Suleimanova. Beneficiaries Ismail Isaev, who is gay, and his gender non-conforming brother Salekh Magamadov are serving long and brutal sentences in Chechnya. And NC SOS director David Isteev, as seen in “Welcome to Chechnya,” now carries out his work in exile.