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) and 28 other media partners to investigate how the Russian government used Pravfond to advance its interests globally. Meduza summarizes the findings of the joint investigation.

Pravfond was established by Russia’s Foreign Ministry and Rossotrudnichestvo (the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation). The board of trustees comprises Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko, Senator Grigory Karasin, state media executive Dmitry Kiselyov, and VTB Bank Chairman Konstantin Kostin. The foundation’s executive director is Alexander Udaltsev, a former ambassador to Latvia and Lithuania.

With a stated mission to protect the rights of Russian citizens abroad, Pravfond funds more than two dozen “legal assistance centers.” In practice, the foundation prioritizes work in the Baltic states, focusing not only on Russian citizens but also on individuals who identify Russia as their historical homeland, regardless of current citizenship. In one email, deputy director Vladimir Pozdorovkin — a former Foreign Ministry official — explicitly identifies the Baltic region as the organization’s top priority.

The foundation covered legal expenses for 67 former Soviet military personnel and officials convicted in Lithuania in 2019 for their involvement in the suppression of anti-Soviet protests in 1990–1991. The highest-ranking among them, former Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison. This case led to a separate prosecution of Algirdas Paleckis, who passed the personal information of prosecutors and judges to Russia’s Federal Security Service. Pravfond paid for Paleckis’s legal defense, too, and the trial ended with a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

Eduard Kruglov, a former officer in Vilnius’s KGB “Alpha” special forces unit, frequently corresponded with Pravfond’s deputy director regarding the case of Yuri Mel, a Soviet military officer who participated in the 1991 assault on the Vilnius TV tower that killed 16 people. Pravfond spent at least €111,000 ($126,100) on Mel’s defense.

Pravfond also financed the legal defenses of Latvian taxi driver Sergey Sidorov (convicted of espionage for photographing military sites); Alexander Franchetti, who participated in Russia’s seizure of Crimea (arrested in Prague at Ukraine’s request, later acquitted and allowed to return to Russia, but eventually sentenced in absentia to five years in prison); and “Australian Cossack” Semyon Boykov (who assaulted a 76-year-old at a pro-Ukraine rally in Sydney and has since taken refuge in Russia’s consulate).

Additionally, Pravfond funds pro-Russian media and Telegram channels, especially in the Baltic states. Intelligence officials in Estonia and Latvia told OCCRP they view Pravfond as a front for Russian intelligence operations.

The “legal assistance centers” financed by Pravfond also act as influence platforms. In Belgium, the former head of one such center, Sergey Petrosov, also serves as the secretary of the Belgian Federation of Russian-speaking Organizations, which promotes pro-Kremlin narratives in the local media. In 2014, Petrosov acted as an observer at the “referendum” on Crimea’s annexation by Russia.

In Germany, Yuri Eremenko coordinates Pravfond-funded legal aid for Russian “compatriots.” He also reported to Pravfond on his outreach to Vadar, an organization founded by members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party that advocates for the rights of Russian speakers. According to OCCRP, European intelligence agencies believe Eremenko works with Russian military intelligence as a GRU agent.

Since June 2023, Pravfond has been under E.U. sanctions. Internal emails reveal extensive details about how the foundation continues to move (and smuggle) money across borders. At least one courier, a 65-year-old Estonian woman named Tatyana Sokolova, was arrested at the border in October 2024.

Find the “Dear Compatriots” investigation at OCCRP