Uncategorized:  Press about us

Moscow's only harm reduction NGO has been given a potentially devastating fine for doing the work it's meant to do

Last week, a Russian group in Saratov, that for three decades has helped people living with diabetes, announced it was shutting down. According to the group’s leader, Larisa Saygina, its board members are “no longer willing to be involved in public/social activities.” That’s hardly surprising once you know the backstory.

Filtermag about Russian drug policy and situation with our organization being fined for "drug propaganda".

Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice (ARF) was recently fined in the amount of 800 000 RUB (which is an equivalent of 12 000 USD) for “propaganda of narcotic drugs

"Sir Nicholas Clegg remembers something strange about his time in the UK government. From 2010, when he became deputy prime minister under David Cameron, Sir Nicholas began to speak with his fellow MPs about the country’s approach to illegal drugs and noticed an alarming disconnect between science and politics, evidence and emotion...."

The European Court of Human Rights has communicated a complaint from the Andrey Rylkov Foundation helping drug addicts. Six years ago, the Russian Federal Drug Control Service found appeals for drug use on their website and banned it.

Russians Targeted for Links to Foreign ‘Undesirable’ Groups. Our case is also highlighted in the article.

Russia accounts for nearly two-thirds of all new HIV infections in the European region, the report found. After Russia, Ukraine has the second largest HIV epidemic, with 240,000 people living with HIV. Drug users are most at risk.

The requirements of the Prosecutor's Office are absolutely illegal and we will appeal against them. We consider that the situation is completely unacceptable as we have to pay these illegally imposed fines instead of spending this amount of money on saving lives, protecting people from HIV and preventing drug overdoses.

A court in Moscow fined us for 50,000 rubles (US$862) for a 2011 hyperlink at our website to a publication on the OSF website