https://meduza.io/en/feature/2017/04/17/they-are-used-to-being-last-grade-people-this-thought-was-inculcated-in-them "“They are used to being last grade people. This thought has been inculcated in them.” About the evacuation of gay men from Chechnya The Russian LGBT Network has opened a refuge center in Moscow for Chechen gays fleeing persecution in Chechnya. According to the organization, about 25 people have already left the republic and another 30, who are assisted by LGBT network staff, are planning to leave Chechnya in the near future. Four to five people apply to leave every day on a twenty-four-hour hotline. The organization has security protocols that help to conceal the refugees’ identities. The LGBT Network hopes to send refugees to other countries where they will be granted asylum; network employees are involved in negotiations with the embassies of Western countries. Journalist Elena Kostyuchenko learned the details of the evacuation from the organization’s employees. She also spoke with those who have already managed to leave. Volunteer (on condition of anonymity) Today there was a boy. We went to collect passports. He was standing in line and motioned at his arms that bore strange invasive injuries. The skin seemed to be peeling off. It was not a burn, not a cut. I had never seen anything like this. It turns out that these are electrocution injuries. They cling on some clothespins and shoot through 220 [volts], and the places where the [clothespins] are attached are most affected. Now it [looks] like [he has] a deep eczema that goes into the muscle. I do not even know how to explain it. I say to him: “Do you need medical help?” He replies: “No, of course not, it is already healing.” And they talk about it joking to each other. What they say cannot even be processed in your head. All those who participate in the project, all our employees, all of our volunteers, will have to undergo psychological rehabilitation after all this. I first received information about what was happening in Chechnya about three weeks ago. An “anonymous friend” wrote to me on [social network] VKontakte. He had a page, of course, but I understand that this, in all likelihood, was [a pseudonym]. [He said]: there are rumors that gays are being captured, tortured, and killed en mass in Chechnya. I asked him who was spreading these rumors, he said: friends at work. I asked him if he could [introduce me to] people who could tell me something. He wrote: brother, of course not. I wrote to my colleague who works on Chechnya. She said she would look into it … within a week we received confirmation. On [March] 29, we opened a hotline, put up information on online communities. But before the publication of the Novaya Gazeta article, this e-mail address did not receive a single appeal. The main problem for us now is that people are very intimidated. We must understand that the LGBT community in Chechnya and in the North Caucasus is generally absolutely closed – they are basically intimidated [and] do not trust anyone. But now there is a common threat. The main question that they ask is: why should we believe you? It is necessary to convince them. I myself started to go onto these online communities, saying this is who I am, this is my name, you can find everything about me on the Internet, all [about] my life. And if you believe me, I am ready to help you. They are used to being last grade people. This thought has been inculcated in them [and] they believe it. And it is hard for them to imagine that someone cares about them [and] wants to save their lives..."