A network of Russian volunteers is helping Ukrainian refugees displaced by the war to leave Russia.

Many of the networks are run by Russians or people of Russian origin. While most of the volunteers are based abroad, there are also some Russian nationals who are still in their homeland, and many of those work clandestinely to avoid the attention of Russian authorities, according to a Reuters report.

There is no law in Russia that bans people from helping Ukrainians leave the country. However, there is a legislation related to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that gives the government the power to deny registration if it deems, they are engaged in activities harmful to Russia’s interests.

Russian law also requires NGOs that receive foreign funding and are considered to carry out political activities to submit to additional scrutiny.

A group called Volunteers Tbilisi, provides humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees in Georgia.

Reuters reported of two other volunteer groups that each said they had helped a thousand or more Ukrainians leave Russia since the conflict began; the news agency wasn’t able to independently confirm the figures. All three groups said many of those they have helped resettle have come from Mariupol, that has endured among the most destructive sieges of the war.

Russians who openly disagree with the war have faced fines and prosecutions, putting such volunteers at risk.

“Helping to Leave,” a volunteer group which coordinates with Volunteers Tbilisi, said it had provided practical assistance to about 1,000 people to leave Russia.

They put Ukrainians up in their homes “so that they can gather themselves a bit and then we evacuate them from Russia,” said co-founder Naturiko Miminoshvili, who is based in Tbilisi when interviewed by Reuters.

The group has logged instances where Russian officials pressured people to travel to locations where they don't want to go or told them that they are not allowed to leave the officially-provided accommodation.

Maria Belkina, who runs the Volunteers Tbilisi group, was born and raised in Russia - a country she said she loved but finds it “sad to see how it is now.”
-Reuters