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Dokument #2139356
Amnesty International (Autor)
Russia continued its war of aggression against Ukraine. Restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association intensified. Censorship of the internet escalated. Violations of the right to freedom of religion and belief continued. Legislation was weaponized to clamp down on dissenters. Arbitrary detentions on fabricated charges, coupled with a lack of independent and impartial investigations and unfair trials, remained a hallmark of the law enforcement and justice systems. Torture and other ill-treatment was endemic and perpetrated with near total impunity. Detainees were held in inhuman or degrading conditions. Restrictive requirements kept most migrant children from enrolling in school. The LGBTI community continued to be outlawed and queer culture supressed. Domestic violence remained absent from the legislative agenda. More regional authorities introduced barriers to abortion. Economic considerations prevailed over obligations to take action on climate change.
The war of aggression against Ukraine continued with Russia occupying more Ukrainian territories and committing further violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes and other crimes under international law (see Ukraine entry).
In April, Russian forces recaptured parts of Kursk region occupied by Ukrainian forces since August 2024.
Ukraine expanded attacks on military and other targets inside Russia, including oil and gas production and export facilities, triggering local fuel shortages. A number of such attacks resulted in casualties and damaged civilian infrastructure.
The government raised some taxes and took other steps to replenish the wartime budget. Economic growth slowed, inflation was high and the cost of living continued to increase.
Russia still refused to cooperate with the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Russia.
Gross human rights abuses continued against Ukrainian prisoners, both military and civilian, who were transferred to Russia. These violations included enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment, and unfair trials. Some of these acts amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.1
An OSCE report presented in September documented “widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment” of Ukrainian prisoners of war throughout their captivity, as well as other human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions on the battlefield and in detention.
Following the escalating Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, from September Ukraine launched strikes on Russian energy facilities, causing temporary local power blackouts in several regions (see Ukraine entry).
Freedom of expression remained severely restricted. People opposing the war against Ukraine, criticizing government policies and individual officials, or expressing other dissenting views faced severe penalties under a variety of administrative and criminal proceedings.
In March, the Supreme Court upheld the 12-year prison sentence on transgender activist Mark Kislitsyn, who had transferred RUB 865 (approximately USD 10) to a Ukrainian bank account as a peaceful protest against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The authorities claimed that the money was sent “for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”.2
In April, a court in St Petersburg sentenced former medical student Daria Kozyreva to 32 months’ imprisonment. The charges were “discrediting” the Armed Forces for posting a blog criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine, giving an interview to the news organization RFE/RL and affixing a quote from a poem by renowned Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko to his monument in St Petersburg.
In July, the Supreme Court designated the non-existent “International Movement of Satanists” as an “extremist” organization and banned it. The hearing took place behind closed doors, without any representatives of the alleged group present. In November, a court in St Petersburg handed down a 12-day sentence of administrative detention for possession of a book and a glass that allegedly featured symbols connected with the banned movement.
From September, “deliberately searching the internet for extremist materials” and advertising virtual private networks (VPNs) became an administrative offence punishable by a fine. The first such fine was issued in December.
In October, three members of the band Stoptime were arrested for their street performances and sentenced to between 12 and 13 days’ administrative detention. Immediately after the first administrative punishment expired, all three musicians were given a further 13 days’ detention. When this expired, two of the band members – the singer and the guitarist – were then immediately detained for another 13 days. The singer was also fined for “discrediting” the Armed Forces for performing songs banned by the authorities. When finally released, the singer and the guitarist left the country. Other street musicians who performed in support of them were also given administrative detention.
Censorship permeated public life. References to various prohibited topics were banned, as were music, books and films by authors designated as “foreign agents” or arbitrarily listed as “terrorists and extremists”.
The authorities continued their efforts to build a “sovereign internet” by blocking access to websites, internet platforms and social media, and slowing down internet traffic.
From August, the media regulator Roskomnadzor imposed restrictions on WhatsApp and Telegram, the two platforms widely used for confidential communications, purportedly as a defence against scammers. Users were being forced to switch to the Russian-created platform MAX, prompting privacy concerns.
The authorities persisted in refusing to authorize protests, dispersing and prosecuting peaceful protesters. Despite the clampdown, protests continued across Russia, albeit on a small scale and in relation to locally relevant issues.
In the Republic of Altay, hundreds of people took part in a series of peaceful protests against the local governor. At least eight protesters were subjected to administrative detention.
The authorities continued to weaponize legislation, including on “foreign agents” and “undesirable organizations”, to clamp down on civil society.
During the year, a further 219 organizations, media outlets and individuals were designated as “foreign agents”. Prosecution under administrative and criminal law for “evading the obligations of a foreign agent” increased, with many cases being heard in the absence of the defendants.
Legislative amendments enacted in September prohibited organizations deemed “foreign agents” from conducting any educational or teaching activities, cut them off the municipal support and benefits extended to “socially-oriented NGOs” and established more burdensome rules.
Amendments to the Criminal Code introduced in October allowed authorities to bring a criminal prosecution for repeated violation of the “foreign agents” legislation after just one administrative penalty, not two as previously.
Ninety-five more organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, were designated as “undesirable”.
In May, a Moscow court sentenced Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the election watchdog Golos, to five years’ imprisonment on charges of “organizing the activities of an ‘undesirable’ organization” and banned him from engaging in any civic activity for nine years.
Violations of the right to freedom of religion and belief continued.
Jehovah’s Witnesses continued to be arbitrarily prosecuted under “extremism” charges. As of October, at least 157 people were imprisoned, including those from Russia-occupied Ukraine.
As of November, at least 10 Baptist communities were banned from meeting unless they had registered officially and notified the authorities of their activities.
There was a rise in criminal prosecutions on politically motivated charges, including extremism, terrorism, treason, espionage and “confidential cooperation with a foreign state, foreign or international organization”. Repressive moves against opposition politicians within and outside Russia, as well as the movements they represented, opened a pathway to mass repressions against their associates.
In March, a military court in St Petersburg sentenced Aleksander Skobov to 16 years’ imprisonment on terrorism charges for his social media posts and participation in a conference organized by the Free Russia Forum in Lithuania. The organization, already labelled “undesirable”, was subsequently designated as “terrorist” in August.
In October, prominent Yabloko party member Maksim Kruglov was detained on charges of “disseminating fake news about the Armed Forces” for his social media posts and placed on the register of “terrorists and extremists”. The investigation was ongoing at the end of the year. Several other prominent Yabloko members were arbitrarily placed in detention, fined or convicted.3
Also in October, the Federal Security Service (FSB) charged in their absence 23 members of the Anti-War Committee, established in exile by prominent figures to oppose Russia’s war of aggression. They were accused of “organizing a terrorist community” and planning the “violent seizure of power” – offences that carried a potential life sentence.
In November, the Supreme Court designated the US-registered Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), founded by colleagues of the deceased prisoner of conscience Aleksei Navalny, as a “terrorist organization”.
Arbitrary detentions on fabricated charges remained a hallmark of the law enforcement system. Investigations were conducted with procedural violations; trials, including in politically motivated cases, were unfair.
In January, three of Aleksei Navalny’s lawyers – Vadim Kobzev, Aleksei Liptser and Igor Sergunin – were sentenced to up to five-and-a-half years’ imprisonment. They were charged with “participation in an extremist community” for allegedly helping their client communicate with his colleagues outside prison.
In March, journalist Maria Ponomarenko, serving a six-year sentence for her anti-war social media posts, was sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment under new charges of “disrupting the work of a penal colony”. Another case was brought against her on the same charge in August.
Prosecution of Aleksei Navalny’s supporters ramped up. In April, four journalists – Antonina Favorskaya, Sergei Karelin, Konstantin Gabov and Artem Krieger – were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for allegedly cooperating with the ACF (see above). As of December, overall more than 100 cases had been initiated against people who had donated to the ACF.
In May, human rights lawyer Maria Bontsler was arbitrarily arrested and detained on charges of “confidential cooperation with a foreign state”. At a court hearing in August, her lawyer stated that the case had been initiated by an FSB officer who wanted her to implicate another lawyer, and that evidence in her case had been falsified.
In July, a military court in Moscow sentenced prominent writer Boris Akunin in his absence to 14 years’ imprisonment on charges of “evading the obligations of a foreign agent” and “terrorism” for his support for Ukraine. In December, he was sentenced in his absence to a further year’s imprisonment for failing to comply with foreign agent requirements.
Torture and other ill-treatment in custody remained endemic, as did impunity for perpetrators. Detainees were held in inhuman or degrading conditions and were often denied healthcare and contact with the outside world.
In June, law enforcement officials arrested dozens of ethnic Azeris in the city of Yekaterinburg, reportedly in connection with an investigation into past crimes. One of those detained described how they were all beaten and tortured with electric shocks for about an hour. Several people were hospitalized and two men died in custody.
Following transfer to a penal colony in the Altay Kraii in July, imprisoned dissenter Aleksei Gorinov was arbitrarily placed in a punishment-isolation cell (SHIZO) and held there for over two months in inhuman and degrading conditions. In September, he was arbitrarily placed in a strict-regime isolation cell for two months before being transferred back to SHIZO in November.
The family of human rights defender Bakhrom Khamroev, sentenced in 2023 to more than 13 years’ imprisonment on fabricated “terrorism” charges, reported that he had been arbitrarily placed in a punishment cell, ill-treated and denied adequate medical care. In August, he was transferred to a highest security penal colony in the far north, thousands of kilometres from his family home.
Activist Mikhail Krieger, serving a seven-year sentence for criticizing the authorities on social media, spent almost 50 days on hunger strike in protest against ill-treatment, including arbitrary placement in a punishment cell.
In September, Russia officially withdrew from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Despite thousands of appeals from the public, there was no progress in the investigation into the 2023 abduction and suspected “honour killing” of a young Chechen woman, Seda Suleimanova. Instead, her friend Elena Patyeva, who had been campaigning for justice since Seda Suleimanova’s disappearance, was repeatedly detained during the year and served a 10-day term of administrative detention for holding single-person pickets.
The independent media outlet Verstka reported widespread financial extortion, extrajudicial executions, torture and other ill-treatment within Russian military forces in Ukraine, perpetrated with near-total impunity primarily by senior officers.
In September, the ACF alleged that opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s 2024 death in prison had resulted from poisoning, citing test results from two unidentified foreign forensic laboratories and photographs from his cell. The allegations were not subject to any official inquiry.
In April, the authorities made Russian language tests mandatory for migrant children and required proof of legal entry into the country for both them and their parents as conditions for school enrolment. In September, education regulator Rosobrnadzor reported that over 87% of children from migrant families had failed to meet the enrolment requirements.
Authorities continued to criminalize the expression of LGBTI identity and suppress queer culture. Individuals were arbitrarily targeted under administrative and criminal law for “LGBT propaganda” and “extremism”. Raids on LGBTI-friendly venues continued. Bookshops, publishing houses, media and online cinemas faced censorship and had to take cultural works out of circulation, redact them or face fines.
In November, in a closed trial, a court in Moscow posthumously found Andrey Kotov, owner of the tourist company Men Travel, guilty of participating in an “extremist organization – LGBT movement” and using minors to distribute pornography. He had been arrested in November 2024 and complained of torture and other ill-treatment during his arrest and detention. The following month, his lawyer was informed that Andrey Kotov had taken his own life.
In May, three book publishers were arrested in Moscow and placed under house arrest on extremism-related charges over alleged “LGBT propaganda” in books published by affiliated printing houses.
Although polls showed strong public backing for the introduction of legislation combatting domestic violence, lawmakers failed to act, deprioritizing even modest reform efforts.
Regional authorities continued to introduce barriers to abortion, including financial incentives for anti-abortion measures. Service providers faced growing pressure and, in some cases, unofficial directives from the authorities prohibiting the procedure. Pregnant women seeking an abortion reported being coerced into continuing the pregnancy. Some had to travel to a clinic in another region to get an abortion. As of May, authorities in at least eight regions had introduced a one-off payment to pregnant minors, reportedly to meet birthrate targets. Calls to prohibit “coercing an abortion” at the federal level grew increasingly vocal.
In October, the NGO Greenpeace noted that Russia had entrenched itself in a “war economy, running on fossil fuels and propaganda”, causing domestic environmental devastation and impacting global sustainability. The background to this was “the dramatic escalation of repression against civil society… [that] radically changed the state of environmentalism in Russia”.
Russia submitted its updated NDC in September, although experts from the Climate Change Performance Index noted that its new emissions target was actually higher than current emissions levels. The Climate Action Tracker rated Russia’s overall climate policies, targets and action as “critically insufficient” to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal.
© Amnesty International
Amnesty Report 2025/26: Zur Lage der Menschenrechte weltweit; Russland 2025 (Periodischer Bericht, Deutsch)
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