Helping someone close to you leave: how not to harm them or yourself

• First let the person talk to a lawyer. Human rights groups advise starting with a consultation: First Department (foreign agent) if a case is being prepared, Go by the Forest (foreign agent) if it is about the draft. A lawyer can tell whether leaving is legally possible and what follows. Don't decide for the person and don't promise an outcome.
• You may help with a legal departure through a checkpoint: buy a ticket, find housing, give money, connect them with human rights groups. Leaving under an undertaking not to leave is not a separate crime but leads to a wanted notice and trial in absentia. There is no separate offence for helpers, but concealment promised in advance may count as complicity.
• Never help someone cross outside a checkpoint, never look for 'guides' and never buy documents. That is art. 322 of the Criminal Code for them and complicity for you, even with a valid passport. A forged passport is art. 327. Middlemen offering a 'corridor' are often scammers or work for the security services.
• Don't hand over your bank card or account access and don't use theirs. Banks block such accounts, and if other people's money goes through the card it can become a criminal case (Criminal Code art. 187, since 2025), especially if you are paid for handing over the card. If you live in or travel to Russia, don't send money through organisations designated 'undesirable', 'extremist' or 'terrorist'.
• Discuss routes and dates on Signal with disappearing messages, not on MAX, VK, WhatsApp or by phone. Turn disappearing messages on in advance: phones are checked at the border, and last-minute deletion is noticeable. Agree on a code word and a check-in call after the border. Only one person abroad should know the details.
• If you are summoned for questioning. No one has to testify against themselves, their spouse or close relatives (art. 51 of the Constitution). A friend or colleague must answer questions about others but may refuse questions about themselves and their own close relatives (art. 56 CPC); refusing everything is an offence under art. 308 CC. So it is better not to know the route, and to go to questioning with a lawyer.
• Routes through Belarus are dangerous now. Children under 14 can't travel on a birth certificate. Where to turn: Go by the Forest (leaving, evacuation), inTransit (evacuation in political cases), Kovcheg (foreign agent; advice, knowledge base), First Department (lawyers). This is not legal advice and no one can guarantee an outcome.

current as of 26 September 2026. More: ConsultantPlus: Criminal Code art. 322 (in Russian); ConsultantPlus: Criminal Code art. 308, note (in Russian); ConsultantPlus: Criminal Code art. 187 (part 3 added by 176-FZ of 24.06.2025, in Russian); ConsultantPlus: Criminal Code art. 316 (in Russian); Kovcheg: crossing the border with Belarus (updated 21.09.2026) (foreign agent); Kovcheg: leaving Russia without an international passport (updated 24.09.2026, in Russian) (foreign agent); Go by the Forest (Get Lost): about the project (help leaving and evacuation) (foreign agent); OVD-Info: what questions are asked at the border and how to answer (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list)