--- description: Initiative follows selfie-related deaths. title: Russian Government Launches a ‘Safe Selfie’ Campaign image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6d3037cfbd60ad1/69885a3bf887dc727ee914c0/rtr432rd.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [selfies](/tag/selfies/) ## selfies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Russian Government Launches a ‘Safe Selfie’ Campaign by [Ryan Daly / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Ryan Daly / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 9, 2015 3:59 PM CUT  A man takes a 'selfie' as he stands with a Ukrainian flag on a Soviet-style star atop the spire of a building in Moscow. A man takes a 'selfie' as he stands with a Ukrainian flag on a Soviet-style star atop the spire of a building in Moscow.© Stringer . / Reuters—REUTERS by [Ryan Daly / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Ryan Daly / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 9, 2015 3:59 PM CUT Following a series of selfie-related deaths, the Russian Ministry of Interior Affairs has launched [a campaign to promote safe selfie-taking practices](https://mvd.ru/upload/site1/folder%5Fpage/006/158/477/Selfie2015.pdf "undefined"). The ministry has produced a practical picture booklet that advises selfie takers to avoid dangerous activities when taking photos, such as leaping across metro lines, posing for photos with tigers, playing Russian roulette, or scaling high-voltage transmission towers. The safe selfie campaign is not as absurd as it might at first seem. Young people have a proclivity for risk seeking behaviors. Members of the Ukrainian urban climbing group Mustang Wanted, for example, have put their lives at risk by climbing some of the tallest buildings in Moscow and the Ukraine to capture selfies in extremely dangerous situations. Each graphic in the pamphlet relays a story of someone who was killed or maimed while taking a dangerous selfie. The animation advising against climbing transmission towers, for example, comes with a short narrative about a ninth grade boy, identified only as Maxim, who was killed “after falling over 100 feet when he accidentally grabbed a live wire while taking a selfie.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3951276/russia-safe-selfie-campaign/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3951276/russia-safe-selfie-campaign/"},"headline":"Russian Government Launches a ‘Safe Selfie’ Campaign","datePublished":"2015-07-09T15:59:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:05:57.262Z","description":"Initiative follows selfie-related deaths","url":"https://time.com/3951276/russia-safe-selfie-campaign/","keywords":["selfies","Tech","russia","Photos","selfie","danger","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6d3037cfbd60ad1/69885a3bf887dc727ee914c0/rtr432rd.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Daly / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6d3037cfbd60ad1/69885a3bf887dc727ee914c0/rtr432rd.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A man takes a \"selfie\" as he stands with a Ukrainian flag on a Soviet-style star re-touched with blue paint so it resembles the yellow-and-blue national colours of Ukraine, atop the spire of a building in Moscow","caption":"A man takes a \"selfie\" as he stands with a Ukrainian flag on a Soviet-style star re-touched with blue paint so it resembles the yellow-and-blue national colours of Ukraine, atop the spire of a building in Moscow","creditText":"© Stringer . / Reuters—REUTERS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/selfies/","name":"selfies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3951276/russia-safe-selfie-campaign/","name":"Russian Government Launches a ‘Safe Selfie’ Campaign"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How To Protect Your Selfies from Hackers","description":"A little safety can help save your skin from ending up on 4 Chan.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/VbTXeRNE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-03T20:19:14.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VbTXeRNE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3951276/russia-safe-selfie-campaign/","duration":"PT1M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3951276/russia-safe-selfie-campaign/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```