We are publishing a review of anti-extremist enforcement in May 2026 as it applies to public speech, organized activity, and attacks on physical objects unrelated to xenophobia.

We learned of 42 sentences issued in May against 60 individuals charged with involvement in extremist and terrorist groups and organizations whose activities we monitor.

• Three defendants were convicted for collaborating with the far-right organizations: one with the “people-hate” Maniacs. Murder Cult network (Manyaki. Kult Ubiystv, MKU), and two for collaborating with an unspecified organization.

• Fifteen defendants were convicted for collaborating with banned Ukrainian organizations. Eight of them faced punishment for ties to the Russian Volunteer Corps (Russkiy dobrovolcheskiy korpus, RDK), including two individuals charged with attempted poisoning of humanitarian aid intended for the Española military formation and residents of the Donetsk People's Republic. Six individuals were convicted for collaborating with the Freedom of Russia Legion (Legion “Svoboda Rossii,” LSR), and one with the Right Sector.

• One defendant — an administrator of the Free Lapland (Svobodnaya Laplandia) Telegram channel — was convicted for his involvement with the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum (Forum Svobodnykh Gosudarstv PostRossii).

• One person was sentenced for financing the Artpodgotovka movement.

• One person was sentenced on charges of involvement in one of the banned communities of “citizens of the USSR” (most likely).

• Fourteen individuals, including 13 inmates of penal colonies, were convicted for involvement in the AUE criminal subculture.

• One person was convicted for involvement in the Columbine movement.

We classified 19 (out of 42) sentences against 24 individuals as fully or somewhat inappropriate.

• Thirteen people were convicted for financing the Anti-Corruption Foundation (Fond borby s korruptsiyey, FBK) after it was designated an extremist organization; one was convicted in absentia, presumably for ties to Alexei Navalny’s organizations.

• Four individuals in various regions were convicted for continuing the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses communities.

• In Khakassia, a local resident was convicted of involvement in the activities of the regional Falun Dafa organization for distributing materials related to this religious movement.

• Five residents of Crimea were sentenced in a case related to involvement in the radical Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The courts sentenced 45 people to imprisonment, five defendants were issued suspended sentences, nine individuals faced fines, and one was sentenced to compulsory labor.

At least 19 such cases against 20 individuals were newly initiated in May (not counting the AUE-related cases). The defendants included “citizens of the USSR,” as well as donors to Artpodgotovka, FBK, and an unnamed pro-Ukrainian organization.

In 2026, we learned about 174 total court decisions in such cases against 222 people. Two of them were referred for compulsory psychiatric treatment, and in one case, the court terminated the prosecution due to the defendant’s death. We view 81 sentences against 102 individuals as fully or partially inappropriate.

We have information on 41 sentences against 42 individuals issued in May that involved relevant Criminal Code articles on public speech. We view seven such sentences against seven individuals as inappropriate.

These decisions can be grouped into the following partly overlapping categories based on the statements’ targets:

• Thirteen people were convicted for expressing ethnic xenophobia. Most of these individuals were punished for posting comments denying or justifying the Holocaust, as well as for inciting violence against people from the Caucasus and Central Asia or against migrants. Four people faced punishment for offline offenses. Three were convicted for displaying their tattoos featuring Nazi symbols. One person attacked a local resident while intoxicated, shouting xenophobic insults and threatening him with “an object resembling a gun.”

• One person faced sanctions for comments posted on a messaging app that called for violence, “including murder, against groups of people based on their religious affiliation.”

• Two people faced sanctions for statements that the authorities deemed attacks on traditional Russian values and symbols. These cases include the sentencing of a “citizen of the USSR” from Orenburg for sharing an image featuring the St. George’s Ribbon, and of a Moscow bar employee for posting an Instagram video in which she prepared a hookah using kulich (the Russian Easter bread). We consider the charges inappropriate in both cases.

• Twenty individuals were convicted for statements regarding the armed conflict with Ukraine; we classified the sentences issued to five of them as at least partially inappropriate.

• Four people were convicted for other statements against the authorities made on social media and in messaging apps.

• Two individuals faced sanctions for displaying AUE symbols.

Six people faced sanctions for their offline statements, four for both offline and online statements, and the rest for online statements only.

24 defendants were sentenced to imprisonment, nine received suspended sentences, five were sentenced to fines, and one — to compulsory labor.

For ten people sentenced to imprisonment for public speech in May, we are not aware of any specific circumstances that would have led to such sentences.

Since the beginning of 2026, we have learned of 239 court decisions related to public speech against 251 individuals. Of these, one defendant was acquitted, three were referred for compulsory treatment, and the rest faced some form of punishment. We classified 54 court decisions against 58 individuals as completely or partially inappropriate.

We have information on 38 new criminal cases related to public speech, opened in May against 38 individuals under the articles of interest to us.

In May, at least three verdicts, in which we have no sufficient grounds to impute the motive of national or religious hatred, were issued against five individuals for attacks on property under the articles of interest to us. Young men from Buryatia were convicted for graffiti in support of the RDK — two minors were sentenced to one year of restricted freedom solely under Article 214 of the Criminal Code (vandalism), while their leader, who faced more serious charges, was sentenced to imprisonment. A 19-year-old far-right activist from Kotlas in the Arkhangelsk Region was convicted for damaging and disabling surveillance cameras; in conjunction with more serious charges, he was also sentenced to imprisonment.

In St. Petersburg, a Moscow resident was also sentenced to imprisonment for anti-war graffiti on city property. However, his time in pretrial detention was credited toward his sentence, and he was released in the courtroom. We consider this verdict inappropriate.

We learned of five criminal cases of this kind that had been initiated in May. In four cases, the charges involved desecration of symbols of military glory: torn banners and flags bearing military symbols, lighting a cigarette from the Eternal Flame, as well as a pro-Ukrainian statement and an offensive gesture at a military memorial. We view these charges as inappropriate.

Another criminal case was opened under Article 167 Part 2 of the Criminal Code (destruction or damage to property motivated by hatred) in connection with the arson of a car in Obninsk. This is the first known instance this year in which the hate motive has been invoked under this article. Unfortunately, we do not know the exact motive for this arson.

In total, since the beginning of the year, we have learned of 26 people convicted of attacks against property, excluding those convicted of such attacks on the grounds of national or religious hatred.

In May, we recorded 16 rulings on administrative offenses issued by courts under Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (incitement to hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity). These rulings pertained to xenophobic statements posted on VKontakte that were directed against people from the Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as Roma and others.

We classified seven decisions as inappropriate. These involved penalties for comments criticizing public officials, including members of the United Russia party, police officers, and military personnel. In one instance, Article 20.3.1 CAO was applied in relation to a comment posted under a story about a former prisoner who had returned to his home village. Experts interpreted the comment as a call to take the lives of “convicts who have joined private military companies,” although, in our opinion, it more likely expressed approval of the death penalty for particularly serious crimes.

The sentences in three cases involved community service (all imposed on the same person), while the others were limited to fines.

Since the beginning of the year, we have recorded about 323 court decisions based on Article 20.3.1 CAO. We classified 45 of them as inappropriate. Additionally, in two cases, the proceedings were discontinued to avoid double jeopardy, and the court dismissed three cases, for lack of elements of the offense or the defendant’s mental incapacity.

Sanctions under Article 20.29 CAO (mass distribution of extremist materials) were imposed in at least five cases in May. In Moscow, the anti-Semitic poet Nikolai Bogolyubov was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest for distributing, during his literary event “The Sky of the Slavs,” the book The Myth of the Holocaust and the CD There Is No Death, which includes the song “Zone 282”; both the book and the song are banned. Three people were fined for their VKontakte posts, which included the slogan “Russia for Russians,” songs popular among the far right, and a song by Timur Mutsurayev, a singer-songwriter associated with the Chechen armed resistance. A resident of Cherkessk was fined for distributing The Fortress of a Muslim at the entrance to a store selling Islamic goods; we consider this decision clearly inappropriate. In total, since the beginning of the year, we have learned of 34 cases of fines imposed under Article 20.29 CAO, eleven of which we consider inappropriate.

On 22 May, entry No. 5499 was added to the Federal List of Extremist Materials: the book titled “Chronicles of the Revived Arkanar” (Khroniki vozrozhdyonnogo Arkanara) by St. Petersburg politician Boris Vishnevsky, which had been banned by the city court in November 2025. We consider this ban inappropriate. We consider this ban inappropriate.

Two new entries were added to the Federal List of Extremist Organizations in May. These included the punk group Pussy Riot, which was banned in December 2025 by the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow, and the Tatar ethno-nationalist and separatist movement VATANÇI (Patriot), designated as extremist by the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan in March 2026.

Sanctions for hate-motivated crimes against the person or property are reviewed separately.