This was Russia today Friday, November 7, 2025

Howdy, folks. In the mailing below, we review a new interview with Zhanna Nemtsova, in which the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom co-founder argues that Europe’s asset freezes unfairly punish ordinary Russians. Let us know if you’re enjoying the newsletter’s new format, why don’t you.

Nemtsov Foundation urges Europe to unblock billions belonging to ordinary Russian investors

Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Western sanctions led to the freezing of hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian assets, including the Central Bank’s reserves and private funds belonging to sanctioned officials and oligarchs. However, new research by the Nemtsov Foundation finds that about $70 billion was blocked not because its owners were sanctioned but due to infrastructural restrictions on Russian financial institutions, including the National Settlement Depository and major banks. In a recent interview with Novaya Gazeta Europe, Zhanna Nemtsova laid out the problem and her organization’s proposed solutions.

Of the “infrastructurally blocked” money in Europe, roughly $14 billion belongs to hundreds of thousands of non-sanctioned private individuals, primarily retail investors. Nemtsova stresses that the issue “is not about sanctioned oligarchs or billionaires.” These investors — part of Russia’s middle class — acquired Western securities through the country’s rapidly developing fintech sector in the late 2010s, when Russians, Nemtsova argues, embraced a “mass habit of investing” that eclipsed anything seen in Europe.

For ordinary Russian investors, these frozen funds are often essential savings for retirement, higher education, and medical treatment. Nemtsova calls the blocking of these modest savings a “huge blow to the Russian middle class.” She also warns that penalizing this socioeconomic group inadvertently harms Russia’s anti-war community. Indiscriminately freezing these assets, she says, also undermines the supposed inviolability of private property in Europe.

Beyond market principles, Nemtsova argues that freezing these assets punishes the very people who embody Russia’s potential for change — the same audience that now sustains the exiled free press and independent NGOs abroad. By discriminating against these individuals simply because of their nationality, Europe risks disillusioning these Russians and consolidating them around Putin and his rhetoric of Western hypocrisy. 

Europe’s current process for unblocking assets is prohibitively expensive and complex, often requiring a guarantor who charges a minimum of 10,000 euros merely to confirm a client’s sanction status, making the process accessible only to the “very wealthy.” Nemtsova proposes a streamlined solution — one that would still involve steep fees, possibly directed to Ukraine’s benefit:

1. Conduct an inventory of assets and request detailed information on all ultimate beneficiaries from Russian financial institutions.
2. Create a “simple electronic application system” for non-sanctioned private investors.
3. Impose a processing commission of up to 10 percent — comparable to what wealthy individuals now pay guarantors — with the proceeds directed by the E.U. toward Ukraine or other designated purposes.

For investors who remain in Russia, where unblocking is technically impossible due to the severed financial ties, she proposes creating a specialized management company. The entity would manage these investments, allowing them to generate income until the investor leaves Russia or the sanctions on financial infrastructure are lifted. Ultimately, Nemtsova’s proposal relies on European financial authorities adopting what she calls a “rational, differentiated approach.”

The Archive Collection: Nothing can stop Meduza from releasing anniversary merch — even if we have to make it ourselves. Check out our latest drop now!

We have a new tradition here at Meduza: every year on our birthday, we update the merch in our online store, Magaz. In 2025, we turned 11 — and despite the considerable challenges we’ve faced this year, we’ve found a pretty original way to bring you a new collection. Here’s a look at the latest clothing and accessories you can buy to rep Meduza and support our work.

Today’s reporting from Meduza

🗞️ Meduza breaks down today’s biggest Russia-related news stories, November 7, 2025

Donald Trump said he’s considering exempting Hungary from new U.S. sanctions on Russian oil after meeting Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the White House, a gesture that could aid Orbán’s reelection campaign and deepen their personal alliance. Meanwhile, Russian forces are closing in on Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine; the EU is preparing a new center to combat disinformation from Moscow and Beijing; divisions over Russia persist within Germany 35 years after reunification; Brussels is tightening visa rules for Russians and debating a €140-billion loan to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets; and a sanctioned Russian tank maker is cutting staff amid restructuring.

🎯 Putin’s envoy ‘doesn’t want to boast,’ claims he fought off a Ukrainian armored vehicle with a sniper rifle

Yury Trutnev, Russia’s deputy prime minister and presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, told a pro-Kremlin blogger that he once fought off a Ukrainian armored vehicle with only a sniper rifle while hiding in a tower, though he insisted he “doesn’t want to brag.” 

🇪🇺 The E.U. just tightened visa rules for Russians. We read the fine print so you don’t have to.

The European Union has suspended the issuance of multiple-entry Schengen visas for most Russian nationals, citing security risks tied to Moscow’s war against Ukraine, espionage, and propaganda. While humanitarian and professional exceptions remain, individual E.U. countries retain discretion, meaning enforcement may vary across the bloc.

🚛 Chaos and corruption take hold as thousands of trucks remain stranded at the Russia-Kazakhstan border

Thousands of trucks have been stranded for nearly two months at the Russia–Kazakhstan border after Moscow halted freight crossings, citing falsified customs declarations — a move that drivers and observers say has fueled corruption and chaos rather than curbing illegal trade. Amid reports of bribes, extortion, and selective passage for connected businessmen, experts suggest the gridlock benefits customs officials and power brokers more than it enforces sanctions.

🇱🇻 Over 10,000 gathered in Riga to protest Latvia’s withdrawal from a key anti-violence treaty. Meduza asked them why they came out.

More than 10,000 people gathered in Riga on Thursday to protest Latvia’s planned withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty combating violence against women. Although lawmakers have postponed the decision until after next year’s elections, demonstrators said they wanted to show continued opposition to what they see as a politically motivated move that threatens women’s rights and aligns Latvia with Kremlin-style rhetoric.

🇹🇯 The watchman in the valley: What the sole resident of Tajikistan’s breathtaking Siyoma gorge can tell us about climate change

This story from The Beet profiles Ivan Bragin, the only permanent resident of Tajikistan’s remote Siyoma Valley, who has spent more than 30 years maintaining a Soviet-era hydrometeorological station and documenting the region’s rapid environmental changes. His observations reveal how melting glaciers, shrinking rivers, overgrazing, and pollution are transforming the valley — a microcosm of Tajikistan’s broader struggle with climate change and resource exploitation.

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