Safety
Short answers to the questions people ask most before a border crossing, after a detention or a hack. Each guide has three levels: a 5-minute minimum, what to do if you are at risk, and what not to do. Every tip lowers the risk but does not remove it.
On this page
Reading this site without leaving traces
- The 'Leave site' button (or pressing Shift three times quickly on a computer) immediately replaces this page with an ordinary weather forecast site. Your browser history stays, though. You need to clear it separately.
- Pages that could show what you were looking for (situations, guides, checking yourself, search, lawyers, Urgent, this page) always have the same neutral tab title: 'Kompas: directory'.
- iPhone (Safari): Settings → Apps → Safari → 'Clear History and Website Data'.
- Android (Chrome): menu ⋮ → 'History' → 'Delete browsing data'.
- Computer: Ctrl+Shift+Delete (Cmd+Shift+Delete on a Mac) opens history clearing in most browsers.
- It is safer to open the site in an 'Incognito' or 'Private' tab: once it is closed, the browser keeps no history or cookies. Your internet provider, employer or network owner can still see that you visited the site.
- Don't open Kompas in Yandex Browser, the VK browser or through Yandex search. These companies are required to hand data to the authorities.
- If you are signed in to Chrome with a Google account, your history is also saved in the account. Delete it at myactivity.google.com; clearing the phone is not enough.
- When you send a link to this site in a messenger, the other person sees a preview. It stays on their phone. Only forward links to people you trust.
- A downloaded PDF sits in 'Downloads' under an obvious name. Rename it or delete it after reading.
- Your phone keyboard remembers what you type. Avoid typing organisations' names on your main phone unless you need to.
The guides below are drafts: a lawyer has not reviewed them yet. This is not legal advice.
General rules
- To delete or not: while there is no case, remove risky content well in advance. If a case has been opened, a report drawn up or your phone seized, don't delete anything without a lawyer: deletion can be used against you and won't remove what the authorities have already copied.
- Don't remotely wipe a seized phone or laptop (Find My, Find Hub) without talking to a lawyer first: it can be treated as destroying evidence.
- Only your own SIM cards, documents and accounts. Other people's don't protect you and create new risks.
- The main threat is usually not hacking but your own phone in someone else's hands. Measure every step against the question: what happens if it is unlocked?
- We don't name VPN services or link to them.
- Links lead to detailed guides by the organisations; their designation in Russia or Belarus is shown next to each link. Read designated organisations' materials, but don't share them.
- Apps change. If a menu item has a different name, use the search in Settings. Paths checked for iOS 26, Android 16 (Pixel) and Telegram as of 26.09.2026.
Your phone
- Lock your phone with a long passcode and turn off face and fingerprint unlock.
- Switch your phone off before a border or a protest. After a restart it is best protected until you enter the passcode.
- A completely empty phone may raise questions at the border. For travel an ordinary phone with a safe history is better, prepared a few weeks in advance. If there was no time, an empty phone is still better than your main one.
- Deleted data can often be restored from the cloud. Check your iCloud, Google and Telegram backups.
- Meduza's detailed guide to your phone at the Russian border: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/08/29/how-to-prepare-your-mobile-phone-for-the-russian-border-meduza-s-complete-survival-guide
- Meduza is designated 'undesirable' in Russia: open the link through a VPN and do not share it.
Telegram and messengers
- WhatsApp, Signal and Viber are blocked in Russia. Since April 2026 Telegram has been almost completely blocked in Russia and usually does not open without a VPN. Most contacts in this directory lead to Telegram.
- In Telegram's privacy settings, hide your number and stop people finding you by it.
- Turn on the cloud password and check the list of active sessions once a month.
- Use auto-delete for sensitive conversations.
- Leave chats where people know your real name if dangerous topics are discussed there.
- Keep a backup channel outside Telegram: email, Delta Chat, a number on paper. Many organisations in this directory list one under 'If Telegram doesn't open'.
- The state messenger MAX has no end-to-end encryption. Don't write anything important on it and don't use it to contact human rights groups.
- Do not share material from organisations designated 'extremist' or 'undesirable': people face administrative and criminal cases for this. Reading something is not the same as spreading it.
- Subscriptions and likes are visible if your phone is inspected and sometimes feature in cases. Remove them well before travelling to Russia.
VPN
- By law using a VPN is not banned. In practice people are fined for deliberately searching for material on the extremist list (art. 13.53 CAO).
- Don't forward links to VPNs or VPN bots: this can be treated as advertising tools for bypassing blocks (art. 14.3 CAO), and people are fined for it.
- We do not recommend specific services or link to them. Guides from First Line (firstlinehelp.info), EFF (ssd.eff.org/ru) and Access Now can help you choose.
- Blocking comes in waves. Keep a backup option and update it in advance, not when the shutdown hits.
Money
- Your bank and the recipient see transfers, Telegram 'stars' and payment comments.
- Check an organisation's designation before donating. It is shown on its card.
- If you travel to Russia, don't pay designated organisations with a Russian card.
People around you
- Agree a signal word and a check-in call with the people close to you.
- Don't keep your devices at your relatives' homes.
- Remember that pressure can be put on your family. Decide together in advance what they will say if someone comes to them.
- Don't agree to meet strangers 'about your case': people have been lured this way and, abroad, abducted. If a meeting is unavoidable, choose a busy place and tell a friend where you are.
If you are being followed or threatened
- Write down dates, places and descriptions, and keep any threats.
- Contact Access Now: its digital security helpline works around the clock, including in Russian. https://www.accessnow.org/help/
Look after yourself
- Tiredness and fear make it harder to think about safety.
- If things are hard, write to First Line or Nora.
Spotting the official bot or channel
- Popular projects have many clones that harvest data. Take the bot link from the organisation's official website, not from forwarded messages.
- Example: Get Lost (Idite Lesom) has only one official bot: @iditelesom_info_bot.
- Check the username character by character: clones differ by a single letter, underscore or digit.
- Genuine human rights groups never ask for passwords, SMS codes or payment for advice in a chat.