Olive Allen, a Russian national and artist who has lived in the United States for more than 11 years, has burned her mother country’s passport in the hopes of raising awareness and funds related to the military conflict in Ukraine.

Speaking to Cointelegraph on Friday, Allen described herself as “a child of new Russia” and said the country would always be a part of her identity, but she had chosen to cut ties with it based on its recent actions in the Ukraine. Standing in front of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York City, Allen burned her Russian passport — which she said was the only copy she had — and planned to auction the video as a nonfungible token (NFT), with the All proceeds go to aid effortsUkraine