Valentina Frolova1; 1 Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
Discussion
Russia remains one of the last country in Europe without specific domestic violence legislation. Since 2017, the UN and the European Court of Human Rights have urged systemic reforms to protect women, yet the Russian government has deprioritised these changes, and a civil society’s capacity to advocate for reform has significantly declined. This paper explores how Russian lawyers and NGOs have safeguarded women’s rights by building an informal legal aid network and leveraging existing legal mechanisms to protect survivors. Together, these efforts have created a de facto support system in the absence of formal state protections.
