Sasha Kazantseva, a sex educator and prominent LGBTQ+ activist, said on Tuesday that individuals linked to the Russian far-right Telegram channel The Healer’s Empire came to her residence in the Lithuanian capital, after issuing threats online, reports Meduza.
“They’re hunting me. Today they came to my home in Vilnius,” Kazantseva wrote on social media on Tuesday. “I want to make this public because if something happens to me, it’s better that as many people as possible know. This is being done by The Healer, a homophobic group from Russia.”
She added that she intends to file a report with Lithuanian police.
Footage shared by both Kazantseva and the SOTAvision outlet appears to show an individual approaching her home and pointing at a mailbox, accompanied by the message, “Greetings from the Healer”. The video was originally posted in the private far-right Telegram channel, reported independent outlet Meduza.
According to Kazantseva, the group had previously discussed plans to attack her. She believes the visit to her home may have been an attempted assault, but she was not present at the time.
The activist also reported that members of the same group had launched bot attacks against LGBTQ+ Telegram channels, including her own. On June 20, the human rights group SK SOS, which supports LGBTQ+ people facing persecution in the North Caucasus, also reported being targeted in a similar attack.
According to SOTAvision, followers of The Healer’s Empire confirmed visiting Kazantseva’s home on their channel.
“We missed Sasha, decided to stop by and grab a bite, but the place was empty,” they wrote. A few days earlier, the group had posted Kazantseva’s Vilnius address on their channel.
Lithuania, which has taken a vocal stance against Kremlin repression and war-related propaganda, has become a hub for exiled Russian civil society figures.
Kazantseva was declared a foreign agent by Russia’s Justice Ministry in February 2023 for allegedly spreading “LGBTQ+ propaganda”. She has since been fined three times for failing to include a mandatory “foreign agent” disclaimer on her social media accounts. This march Russia’s Interior Ministry added her to its federal wanted list.
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