Donations, Telegram Stars and money

Draft. Compiled from human rights groups' guides but not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This is not legal advice — check the linked sources and consult a lawyer.

• Telegram Stars and paid reactions are not anonymous: the channel owner sees the sender and the history stays in your account. People are already being charged with treason and financing terrorism over them.
• There is no minimum amount: a case is possible over a single Star. In September 2026 a Tyumen man got 8 years for Stars sent to the channels of Michael Nacke, Alexander Nevzorov and Alexander Shpak.
• Before donating, human rights groups advise checking the recipient's status (see 'Check yourself'). Donating to an 'extremist', 'undesirable' or 'terrorist' organisation can lead to a criminal case.
• In Telegram settings you can hide yourself from the 'top senders' list. If you donated after an organisation was banned, talk to a lawyer about what to do with the account.
• Banks restrict people on the Rosfinmonitoring list: they may spend no more than 10,000 roubles a month per family member on living costs.

current as of September 25. More: OVD-Info: Telegram Stars (extremist); Mediazona: 8 years for Stars (foreign agent); Wikipedia: the Rosfinmonitoring list