One of Russia’s leading pro-democracy groups, the Free Russia Foundation, announced on Friday that it is investigating a potential cyberattack following the online leak of thousands of emails and documents related to its operations.
On Thursday, the Telegram channel SOTA reported that over 2,500 email chains and more than 13GB of electronic documents from the Free Russia Foundation and The US Russia Foundation had been published online.
The Free Russia Foundation stated it is “closely monitoring the illegal dissemination of documents allegedly pertaining to our operations” and has “launched an investigation to determine the origin, full extent, and nature of this breach.”
The foundation suggested that the leak might be connected to recent cyberattacks by the Kremlin-linked hacker group Coldriver, noting, “A number of entities have been compromised, resulting in the theft of their correspondence, including grant reports and internal documents.” The group warned that the attack might be used as “a pretext for a new wave of repression against pro-democracy Russians.”
Additionally, SOTA reported that the personal data of staff members at a facility in Tbilisi, Georgia—known as the “elf factory”—was also leaked. According to independent Russian media outlet The Bell, this facility is where employees are paid to post criticisms of Russian authorities and the war in Ukraine online.
The Free Russia Foundation, a nonprofit established in 2014 by Russians in the United States and currently led by Natalia Arno, aims to promote “a free, democratic, peaceful, and prosperous Russia reintegrated into the international community as a constructive and positive actor.”
In 2019, the Russian Justice Ministry labeled the Free Russia Foundation as an “undesirable organisation” and later, in July, added it to its list of “extremist organisations.”
The foundation commented on the attack, stating, “This attack does not come as a surprise, as everyone who opposes Putin and his system, whether in our team or in other human rights or political opposition organisations, faces risk every day.” Despite the breach, the foundation affirmed its commitment to “stopping the criminal war unleashed by Putin’s regime on Ukraine and to making Russia free and democratic.”