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Russian queer people inside the country, along with activists who have fled to Europe, are being harassed by homophobic online communities calling for the “total destruction of LGBTQ people,” while police ignore their complaints, according to a report by the independent media project Glasnaya. The publication found that one of the homophobic Telegram communities, “The Healer’s Empire,” is run by two men — a Moscow resident and a native Ukrainian who now lives in Vilnius.
In the spring of 2025, “The Healer’s Empire” carried out a series of cyberattacks on several gay-friendly Telegram channels: the Russian LGBT Network, Parni (Guys), Deti 404 (Children 404), and Lobby. The channels were flooded with tens of thousands of bot subscribers in an attempt to get them blocked by the platform. One of the project’s leaders, known as “The Healer,” reported on the results of the attack, calling the project’s ultimate goal “the total destruction of LGBT online and in real life.”
In the summer of 2025, supporters of “The Healer” targeted queer blogger and author Sasha Kazantseva. They inflated her subscriber count with bots, sent her online threats, tracked down her address in Lithuania, and came to her home. Kazantseva was out, but the homophobic activists damaged her mailbox and sent her a message: “If you’d been home, we would’ve wasted you today.”
The orchestrator of the harassment, who used the handle “Healer the Second,” told Kazantseva that he and his clique were prepared to stop their pressure if she “shut down all her projects” and ended her advocacy work.
Kazantseva turned to the Lithuanian police, but they found no elements of a crime in the threat to “waste” her. She intends to file another report, as she continues to receive threats and insults.
As Glasnaya reports, “The Healer’s Empire” brought together the audiences of several homophobic and anti-feminist channels and chat rooms. Its founder is 24-year-old Dagestan native Maksim S., an aspiring plastic surgeon who lives in Moscow and also runs a medical blog. As he told Glasnaya, he had already “stepped away from the community” and complained about receiving threats because of his “public activity.” Having shifted his focus to his medical career, Maksim handed control of the community over to a user known as “Healer the Second.”
“Healer the Second” is reportedly Bronislav M. Born in 2005, Bronislav studied at an elite school in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. He now lives in Lithuania.
In addition to targeting Kazantseva, the “Empire” has attempted to go after queer people in other European countries as well. In particular, Bronislav M. filed a complaint with the Dutch police against a trans woman called Mia Grigoryeva. According to Grigoryeva, the police did follow up on his report, but the matter stopped there. She, in turn, passed along to the authorities the information she had on “Healer the Second.”
The new leader of the “Empire” also told subscribers that he was stepping down, saying he had found a girlfriend and now had “no time or money for attacks at all.” In messages to Mia Grigoryeva, he claimed he planned to obtain a Russian passport through the simplified relocation track for foreigners who profess “traditional values.”
According to Kazantseva, “The Healer’s Empire” may be backed by “pro-Kremlin Russian structures” that are “testing a scheme to eliminate inconvenient activists in the EU using not very bright but enthusiastic young people.” The activist said she intends to hold “Healer the Second,” who still lives in Lithuania, accountable.