A customs official in Yekaterinburg lost her job and faced criminal prosecution after authorities discovered she had donated 2,400 rubles—approximately €28—to Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation several years earlier, according to independent Russian media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe.
The woman, who had worked for the Ural Customs Service for fifteen years, was detained at her workplace by FSB agents and police on November 20, 2025. Following interrogation, she returned to her office "in a state of distress," colleagues reported. Within four days, the customs service pressured her to resign.
Her donation occurred between August 2021 and February 2022—a period spanning the Russian government's designation of the Anti-Corruption Foundation as an "extremist organization" on August 4, 2021. Under Russian law, financial support for groups labeled extremist carries penalties of up to eight years imprisonment.
The official received a 300,000 ruble fine (€3,460) in addition to losing her position. The fine represents more than one hundred times the amount she donated.
In Russia, as in much of the former Soviet space, understanding requires reading between the lines. This case exemplifies a systematic expansion of retroactive political prosecution targeting citizens who once supported opposition activities that were legal at the time.
According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, prosecutions for donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation have surged dramatically since 2023, with at least 123 documented cases—a sixty-fold increase. The crackdown extends across professional and social boundaries.
Recent parallel cases demonstrate the widening net. In February 2026, a journalist received a one-month custodial sentence for a €3 donation. In December 2025, an acclaimed violinist was given a 3.5-year suspended sentence for making seven small contributions to the foundation.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by Navalny to investigate government corruption, gained significant public support before Russian authorities shut it down. Navalny himself died in an Arctic penal colony in February 2024 while serving a 19-year sentence on charges widely viewed by international observers as politically motivated.
