RosPil

RosPil (Russian: РосПил, also styled Роспил) was a Russian non-commercial public project dedicated to combating corruption in state procurement. It was founded in December 2010 by opposition politician Alexei Navalny and funded entirely through private donations. The project operated a website where users could report suspicious government tenders, which were then analyzed by volunteer experts and professional lawyers. The lawyers filed complaints with regulatory bodies, primarily the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), to cancel corrupt purchases. According to the project, it identified and cancelled corrupt state procurements worth more than 100 billion rubles, and on average saved 59,000 budget rubles for every ruble donated to RosPil. RosPil was not registered as a legal entity; Navalny argued that creating a formal non-profit foundation would be overly bureaucratic and vulnerable to inspections. The project was financed through private donations via the Yandex.Money payment system. Fundraising began on 2 February 2011, with a minimum goal of 3 million rubles and a maximum of 5 million. The maximum goal was reached by 26 February 2011, with 15,000 people contributing amounts ranging from one kopek to 150,000 rubles. By 3 May 2011, over 6 million rubles had been raised. Perm Krai Governor Oleg Chirkunov became the first official to openly donate to RosPil. In the mid-2010s, RosPil ceased to be an independent project and was integrated into the activities of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). Following the designation of FBK as an extremist organization and its formal liquidation in 2021, RosPil was transformed into an investigations format broadcast on the YouTube channel "Shtab" (now "Popular Politics") of Navalny's team. On 26 March 2022, the project's VKontakte group was blocked in Russia at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office. The project was led by Lyubov Sobol from 2 March 2011 to 28 August 2018, followed by Alexander Golovach until 2021, and then Danil Novikov from 2021. Its logo, created by an anonymous Habrahabr.ru user, depicted a double-headed eagle holding two saws, an allusion to the Russian slang term "raspil" (sawing, meaning embezzlement). Navalny said the logo expressed "an ironic view of the artist on the situation with the theft of state officials."

RosPil was founded in December 2010 by Alexei Navalny as a non-commercial public project to combat corruption in state procurement. It was not registered as a legal entity; Navalny argued that creating a formal non-profit foundation would be overly bureaucratic and vulnerable to inspections. The project was financed through private donations via the Yandex.Money payment system. Fundraising began on 2 February 2011, with a minimum goal of 3 million rubles and a maximum of 5 million. The maximum goal was reached by 26 February 2011, with 15,000 people contributing amounts ranging from one kopek to 150,000 rubles. By 3 May 2011, over 6 million rubles had been raised. Perm Krai Governor Oleg Chirkunov became the first official to openly donate to RosPil. The project's workflow involved users reporting suspicious tenders, volunteer experts assessing them, and lawyers filing complaints with regulatory bodies, primarily the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), to cancel corrupt purchases. Lawyers were paid employees, while experts and participants were volunteers. According to the project, it identified and cancelled corrupt state procurements worth more than 100 billion rubles, and on average saved 59,000 budget rubles for every ruble donated. In April and May 2011, a data leak scandal occurred when some donors received calls from people posing as journalists, attempting to find out their sources of income. One caller was identified as Yulia Dikhtyar, a commissioner of the Nashi movement. The Yandex.Money payment system confirmed it had received requests from law enforcement agencies regarding RosPil, including from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. The incident occurred amid preparations for Yandex's IPO on NASDAQ. Navalny stated he had no claims against Yandex and believed the FSB had passed personal data of donors to the Nashi movement. In the mid-2010s, RosPil ceased to be an independent project and was integrated into the activities of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). Following the designation of FBK as an extremist organization and its formal liquidation in 2021, RosPil was transformed into an investigations format broadcast on the YouTube channel "Shtab" (now "Popular Politics") of Navalny's team. On 26 March 2022, the project's VKontakte group was blocked in Russia at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office. The project was led by Lyubov Sobol from 2 March 2011 to 28 August 2018, followed by Alexander Golovach until 2021, and then Danil Novikov from 2021. Its logo, created by an anonymous Habrahabr.ru user, depicted a double-headed eagle holding two saws, an allusion to the Russian slang term "raspil" (sawing, meaning embezzlement). Navalny said the logo expressed "an ironic view of the artist on the situation with the theft of state officials."

• RosPil founded by Alexei Navalny

• Fundraising campaign launched with goals of 3–5 million rubles

• Navalny announced vacancies for professional lawyers

• Maximum fundraising goal of 5 million rubles reached

• First lawyer hired

• Lyubov Sobol becomes project head

• Total funds raised exceed 6 million rubles

• Alexander Golovach becomes project head

• FBK liquidated; RosPil transformed into YouTube investigations

• RosPil VKontakte group blocked in Russia

A grassroots anti-corruption project using crowdsourcing and legal action to expose and cancel corrupt state procurement in Russia.

• RosPil website

  Platform for users to report suspicious state procurements

• Legal complaints

  Complaints filed with regulatory bodies to cancel corrupt tenders

• YouTube investigations

  Investigative videos on the channel 'Shtab' (now 'Popular Politics') after 2021

1. 1РосПил на сайте ФБКfbk.info
2. 2RosPil - Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3РосПил — Википедияru.wikipedia.org