Skip to main content

LGBTQ activist says members of ‘homophobic group from Russia’ showed up at her home in Vilnius after threatening her

Source: Sasha Kazantseva

Followers of a far-right activist who runs a Telegram channel called “The Healer’s Empire” showed up at the Vilnius home of sex educator and LGBTQ+ activist Sasha Kazantseva, she reported on Tuesday.

“They’re hunting me. Today they came to my home in Vilnius,” Kazantseva wrote. “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 said she planned to contact the police.

Both Kazantseva and the outlet SOTAvision shared a video from a private far-right channel that appears to show someone approaching her home and pointing to a mailbox with the message, “Greetings from the Healer.”

According to Kazantseva, members of the group had recently been discussing plans to attack her. She believes the person who came to her home intended to assault her, but she wasn’t there at the time.

Kazantseva also said that the group has carried out bot attacks on 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 such a bot attack.

SOTAvision reports that members of “The Healer’s Empire” confirmed visiting Kazantseva’s home: “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 her address in their channel.

In February 2023, Russia’s Justice Ministry labeled Kazantseva a “foreign agent” for allegedly spreading “LGBTQ+ propaganda.” Since then, she has been fined three times for failing to include the required “foreign agent” disclaimer on her social media accounts. In March 2025, the Russian Interior Ministry added Kazantseva to its wanted list.