LIDIA MONIAVA, believer, Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow, Russia)

Lidia Igorevna (Lida) Moniava (born November 29, 1987, Moscow) is a Russian public figure, co-founder and director of the charity foundation “House with a Lighthouse” (Dom s Mayakom), which specializes in providing support to terminally ill children and young adults. She is known as the organizer of the first children’s hospice in Moscow and as the guardian of a seriously ill child named Kolya, as well as an advocate for the rights of palliative care patients, people with disabilities, and refugees. She is also a parishioner of the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Uspensky Vrazhek (Moscow).

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Lida Moniava took an openly anti-war stance. She continued to call what was happening a war, contrary to official rhetoric, considering it essential to “call things by their proper names.” Moniava emphasized that charity cannot exist outside the broader context of society and that the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe requires action from civil society rather than silence. She considered the possibility of open protest (for example, a solo picket), but concluded that direct protests do not lead to change and only result in repression against protesters. Instead, she decided to focus on helping those affected and soon launched a volunteer project to support refugees. Moniava stated that she does not consider charitable organizations responsible for the actions of the authorities and rejected attempts to place responsibility for state decisions on NGOs.

In spring 2022, Moniava initiated a separate project/fund to assist refugees: it was aimed at supporting people arriving from Ukraine, as well as refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh and people from a number of Russia’s border regions (reports mentioned, in particular, the Kursk, Belgorod, Bryansk, and Lipetsk regions). In September 2025, this fund/project suspended its work; statements by the project and media reports noted that the number of newly arriving refugees had decreased and that part of the assistance had come under regulation within frameworks created by the state.

On 9 January 2024, Lida Moniava published an open letter to Patriarch Kirill on her Facebook page in connection with the ban from ministry imposed on Archpriest Alexei Uminsky, rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Khokhly, who for many years had provided pastoral care to patients of the children’s hospice. In her post, she urged readers to add their signatures to the letter. Moniava’s own signature appears as number 34; in total, more than 12,000 people signed the letter, including clergy.

On 28 January 2026, it became known that an administrative protocol had been drawn up against Lida Moniava under the article on “discrediting the army” (Article 20.3.3, Part 1 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses). The document was submitted to the Izmailovsky District Court of Moscow and appeared in the electronic court database. At the time of publication, it was not specified what exactly prompted the protocol; the case materials were with the judge, and a hearing date had not been set. In a comment to RBC, Moniava said that nothing was changing in the work of “House with a Lighthouse” and that the foundation continued to help seriously ill children.