”Please check with each participant whether it’s okay to take their photo.”

After I take a picture of a slide during one of the presentations, a man approaches me. It’s Mikhail Lobanov, a Russian socialist, who kindly reminds me that this is one of the panels where the speakers aren’t to be made public. I reassure him that I’d never publish anything without consent. Mikhail accepts with a smile and returns to his seat.

I have been invited to “The Fight against Russia’s war and the authoritarian regime,” a conference organized by Radical Democracy Network, a broad coalition of Russian dissidents and antiwar activists. The organizers make it clear that this is no ordinary gathering. Flyers inform attendees that we are not allowed to publicize anything about today’s event for security reasons. A five-day blackout is imposed on all media articles. It’s about preventing Russian intelligence from tracking and mapping the guests’ activity — but also to stay under the radar of the Danish police. The guests are often treated with suspicion by Western security services.