A Proxy in Plain Sight New OCCRP Investigation Reveals How Kremlin-Backed Foundation Extended Moscow’s Reach Across Europe

A proxy in plain sight New OCCRP investigation reveals how Kremlin-backed foundation extended Moscow’s reach across Europe

Journalists from Denmark’s public broadcaster Radio Denmark obtained roughly 50,000 internal emails from Russia’s Foundation for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad (“Pravfond”), revealing how the group “collaborated with spies, funded propaganda efforts, and built points of influence” between 2012 and late 2024. Radio Denmark shared the archive with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) a…

Russian Foundation, Aimed at Helping ‘Compatriots’ Abroad, Supports Spies, Criminals, and Propagandists

Under the banner of human rights work, a state-backed Russian organization has spent years advancing the Kremlin’s geopolitical agenda across the world — including by funding the legal defense of alleged spies, criminals, and propagandists. Among the recipients of its grants is a taxi driver convicted of espionage, a man convicted in the Czech Republic of leading an armed band during Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and an Australian activist who …

On the role and in accordance with its statutes, the so-called Foundation for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Companion (Pravfond), created by the former President of Russia Dmitri Medvédev in 2012, has the mission of providing "legal aid to compatriots and human rights organizations", on such common issues as mental health or child custody rights. In practice, it is an organization that finances propaganda activities, networks of in…