Alyona Vladimirovna Popova (Russian: Алёна Владимировна Попова; born on 15 February 1983) is a Russian human rights activist who is known for her digital campaign against domestic violence in Russia, and as one of the founders, together with Alexandra Mitroshina, of a

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

flash mob A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. Flash mobs may be organized via t ...

with the catch phrase, "I did not want to die" (#ЯНеХотелаУмирать).

Biography

Alyona Popova was born in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

on 15 February 1983, later settled in

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

, where she lived until 1999, and moved to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 2000. She began her career as a journalist in 1998, leading regional broadcasting projects in Yekaterinburg. From 2001 to 2003 she worked as a parliamentary correspondent for the Globus news agency, covering the work of the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

and the Federation Council. Popova earned a law degree from

Kutafin Moscow State Law University Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL) (russian: Московский государственный юридический университет имени О. Е. Кутафина) is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational and public unive ...

and a journalism degree from

Lomonosov Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

in 2005. In 2008, she founded and became the CEO of the VideoSnack project, which provides video content for mobile devices in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In 2011, she simultaneously launched two entrepreneurship-focused projects: Startup Poster (Rusbase), supporting the market for venture projects and investments in Russia; and Startup Women, aimed at developing women's IT entrepreneurship in Russia. By 2010, Popova began volunteering. After taking part in extinguishing fires in the Moscow Oblast and in Siberia, she founded the volunteer organization "Civil Corps", a disaster-relief organization. With her focus on domestic violence issues, she launched the project ''Ti Ne Odna'' (You Are Not Alone) in 2016, aimed at protecting

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and combating

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

. Later, she began trolling pro-Kremlin politicians by stuffing the letterboxes of MPs with photographs of battered women, along with long printed lists containing their names. According to Popova and to official records, domestic violence kills at least 12,000 women in Russia each year. Nevertheless, in February 2018, Russian President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

softened domestic violence legislation, making it easier for abusers to harm women. On 3 April 2018, the Russian government refused to allow a protest against sexual harassment. Popova said city authorities told organizers that planned demonstration could not be held because another public event had already been scheduled on Manezh Square at around the same time. The rally had originally been planned for 29 March, but was postponed due to a mall fire in

Kemerovo Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka and Tom Rivers, in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk Ba ...

that killed 64 people. On 12 April, she was arrested for the rally and for a call on Leonid Slutsky's resignation from the

. She was fined with 20,000 rubles by the court for violating the protest law. Popova's political aspirations began to take root while she embraced volunteering, philanthropy and activism: she was nominated by the party "Fair Russia" to the

of the 6th convocation, and had been registered. She later unsuccessfully ran in the

2013 Moscow mayoral election The 2013 Moscow mayoral election was held on September 8, 2013, as part of the regional elections, at the same time as the elections in Moscow Oblast Gubernatorial Election, 2013, Moscow Oblast and other Oblasts were held. Elections were held aft ...

on behalf of the

Civilian Power The Civilian Power or Citizens' Force (GS; russian: Гражданская сила; ГС; ''Grazhdanskaya sila'', ''GS'') is a green-liberal political party in the Russian Federation. The organization was called the Network Party for Support o ...

party, as she was denied registration. In 2014, she ran in the elections to the Moscow City Duma of the 6th convocation, and was registered. In the fall of 2018, Popova launched the Ethics and Technology project, which aims to develop reasonable boundaries and methods for using technology so that it serves society and does not cause harm. Concerned about privacy violations, on 7 October 2019 Popova filed a lawsuit against the Moscow government for violating privacy rights by using facial recognition cameras to identify anti-Kremlin protesters. The hearing was scheduled for 21 October The court ruled that the implementation didn't violate such action on 3 March 2020. Popova joined the

Yabloko The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko (RUDP Yabloko) (russian: Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко», Rossíyskaya obyedinyónnaya demokratícheskaya pártiya "Y ...

party and in September 2021, again ran for the State Duma elections on a platform of strengthening domestic violence laws. Her bid for the

Preobrazhensky constituency The Preobrazhensky Constituency (No.205) is a Russian legislative constituency in Moscow. It is based in Eastern Moscow. Members elected Election results 1993 , - ! colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:to ...

was unsuccessful, as she received 6.92% percent of the votes. She continues to advocate women running for political office in order to address current issues in Russia. On 6 October 2022, the Ministry of Justice of Russia added Popova to the register of individuals and foreign agents.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popova, Alyona 1983 births Living people Yabloko politicians Kutafin Moscow State Law University alumni Moscow State University alumni