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

We have learned of 45 sentences handed down in June against 76 individuals charged with involvement in extremist and terrorist groups and organizations whose activities we monitor.

• 17 residents of Kabardino-Balkaria were convicted of participating in Islamist "Sharia patrols."

• Eleven people were punished for collaborating with Ukrainian organizations designated as terrorist in Russia. Three of them were convicted of involvement with the Russian Volunteer Corps (Russkiy dobrovolcheskiy korpus, RDK), including one of the RDK leaders Vasily Kiryushchenko). Тhree individuals were sentenced for cooperation with the Freedom of Russia Legion (Legion "Svoboda Rossii," LSR), three — for ties to both RDK and LSR, and two — for ties to Azov;

• One man was convicted for making donations to the misogynistic organization Male State;

• One supporter of conspiracy theorist Svetlana Lada-Rus faced punishment for involvement in the banned Volya party;

• Five individuals were sentenced for financing the Artpodgotovka movement.

• One person was sentenced for involvement in one of the banned communities of "citizens of the USSR".

• Seven people (including four 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 the following 19 (out of 45) sentences against 30 individuals as inappropriate:

•  At least ten people have reportedly been convicted for money transfers to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (Fond borby s korruptsiyey, FBK) after it was designated an extremist organization.

• Four employees of an Orenburg bar were convicted of involvement in the "international social movement LGBT." Furthermore, a similar sentence in Zabaykalsky Krai against a club owner was increased in severity. We also learned that four defendants in a similar case in Kirov were sentenced in late May.

• Sixteen people in various regions were convicted for continuing the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses communities.

The courts sentenced 26 people to imprisonment, including one (the aforementioned Vasily Kiryushchenko) who received a life sentence in absentia. Nine defendants were issued suspended sentences, eight were fined, and one was sentenced to compulsory labor.

At least 13 such cases against 30 people (not counting the AUE-related cases) were opened in June. The defendants included members of the right-wing radical communities NNF 131 (National People's Formation) and "Russian National Army" (Russkaya Natsionalnaya Armiya), participants of "Sharia patrols", a member of the Council of United Circassia (Sovet obyedinennoy Cherkesii; which law enforcement officials consider part of the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum), donors to Artpodgotovka and FBK, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

In the first half of 2026, we learned of 235 court decisions against 317 individuals issued in such cases. Of these, the courts referred two individuals for compulsory psychiatric treatment, and the prosecution of two defendants was terminated due to their deaths. We view 106 decisions against 141 individuals as fully or partially inappropriate.

We have information on 52 verdicts handed down in June against 56 people that involved relevant Criminal Code articles on public speech. One more case was dismissed by the court due to the defendant’s death. We view 18 sentences against 22 people as completely or partially inappropriate.

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

• Eleven people were convicted for expressing ethnic xenophobia. These individuals were punished for their online posts and comments calling for violence against Azerbaijanis, people from the Caucasus, Jews, and ethnic Russians. One person also distributed leaflets inciting hatred against Russians both via online messaging apps and by posting them in public places. Another person made a mailbox covered with decorations resembling Nazi- symbols and placed it on his fence. Two inmates of penal colonies demonstrated to others their swastika tattoos.
• One person was convicted for a comment calling for violence "against persons united by a common social characteristic, namely, persons involved in the construction and maintenance of roads."
• Nine people were sentenced for statements or actions that the authorities deemed an attack on traditional Russian symbols and values. Among them was historian Tamara Eidelman, who was convicted in absentia on charges that included posting a video about Victory Day and the Soviet Union's responsibility for the Second World War; St. Petersburg "trash-bloggers" who filmed an obscene video next to a patriotic poster; and Crimea residents who circulated a photo taken at a war memorial and a picture designed in the style of an Orthodox icon. Several authors of online posts insulting veterans, criticizing Victory Day, or "desecrating" the St. George ribbon also faced sanctions. We consider such charges to be inappropriate
• Courts issued rulings against 31 individuals for statements regarding the armed conflict with Ukraine. We classified 13 of them as at least partially inappropriate.
• Four people were convicted for other statements made in messaging apps and on social networks that were directed against the authorities in one way or another.

Six people were held accountable for offline statements, six for both offline and online statements, and 43 for online statements.

39 people were sentenced to real terms of imprisonment (including one — the aforementioned Kiryushchenko — to life imprisonment). Four individuals received suspended sentences, six were sentenced to fines, three to compulsory labor, and one to corrective labor.

For 30 people sentenced to imprisonment for public speech in June, we are not aware of any specific circumstances that would have led to such sentences.

In the first half of 2026, we learned of 304 court decisions in cases involving public speech, against 320 individuals. One person was acquitted, three were referred for compulsory psychiatric treatment, one case was closed due to the defendant’s death, and the rest faced another form of punishment. We classified 72 court decisions against 80 individuals as completely or partially inappropriate.

We also have information about 27 new criminal cases related to public speech opened in June against 27 people under the Criminal Code articles of interest to us.

In June, at least two verdicts were handed down for attacks on property under the articles of interest to us, but we do not have sufficient grounds to conclude that these attacks were motivated by national or religious hatred. One of these verdicts addresses the actions of the aforementioned Yevpatoria residents, and the other one punishes a Stavropol resident who used the Eternal Flame to light a cigarette.

In June, we learned of three new criminal cases of this kind. One case involved lighting a cigarette from the Eternal Flame, another involved an attempt to extinguish it, and the third involved tearing down a poster featuring the St. George's Ribbon. We believe that classifying such actions under Article 354.1 CC ("rehabilitation of Nazism") is inappropriate.

Since the beginning of the year, we have learned of 24 people convicted of attacks against property, excluding those convicted of such attacks on the grounds of national or religious hatred.

In June, we recorded 37 rulings on administrative offenses issued by courts under Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) for incitement to hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity. These rulings pertained to xenophobic statements posted on VKontakte, Telegram, or Instagram, including those targeting natives of the Caucasus or Central Asia, migrants in general, Black people or people of color in general, Russians, and Orthodox Christians. Additionally, five individuals were punished for statements against government officials that condoned violence against them.

One person was punished for an offline act of posting xenophobic leaflets that called for violence based on ethnicity in the lobby of his apartment building. Others expressed their views online.

We classified at least one decision made in June as inappropriate. A woman from Cherepovets was punished over a comment in which she quoted a Moldovan friend, who had voted against preserving the USSR in 1991 on the grounds that Moldovans were tired of "feeding lazy and greedy Russians." Clearly, the Cherepovets resident had no intention of inciting hatred toward ethnic Russians or Russian nationals; she was merely relating her friend's reasoning.

Administrative arrest was imposed in three cases. In the remaining cases, the sentenced were limited to fines.

In the first half of 2026, we reviewed 457 court decisions under Article 20.3.1 CAO. We classified 64 cases as inappropriate. In the overwhelming majority of the reviewed cases, the courts imposed penalties. However, two cases were dismissed to prevent repeat punishment, three due to the absence of the elements of the offense or for mental health reasons, and at least one was closed due to the statute of limitations.

At least one person was fined in June under Article 20.3.2 Part 2 CAO (public calls for actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, made online). An Astrakhan resident was fined for suggesting "separating Muscovy from Russia" under a post about the statement by Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko on the advisability of restricting regional applicants' access to Moscow universities. We believe this fine was inappropriate, since the Astrakhan resident's comment did not contain any calls for violence.

At least five people faced fines under Article 5.26 Part 2 CAO for desecrating religious objects. One Moscow resident was fined for posting an image on VKontakte, and four others were fined for dancing the lezginka — a folk dance of the North Caucasus — in front of an Orthodox church. No religious items were damaged, and we consider these cases inappropriate.

We learned of five sentences under Article 20.29 CAO (mass distribution of extremist materials) issued in June. The court rulings concerned the following postings on Vkontakte: far-right songs; the 1973 Soviet antisemitic film Secret and Explicit (The Aims and Acts of Zionists) (Tainoye i yavnoye: Tseli i deyaniya sionistov); and a banned image featuring the chevron of the Azov battalion. Additionally, at least one person was punished for selling the Jehovah's Witnesses' translation of the Bible on the Avito e-commerce website; we view this decision as inappropriate.

Since the beginning of 2026, we have learned of 47 cases of fines imposed under Article 20.29 CAO, 16 of which we consider clearly inappropriate.

It should also be noted that the practice of prosecution under the new Article 13.53 CAO (searching for knowingly extremist materials and obtaining access to them) continues. The fourth and fifth known reports under this article were filed against residents of the Kemerovo Region and Chechnya.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated twice in June, with entries 5500 and 5501 added: the song by Andrei Zabrodin, "Step on the Cop's Throat" (Nastupi mentu na gorlo), and the song by Ukrainian performer POSITIFF (Alexei Zavgorodny), "Nothing Personal" (Nichego lichnogo).

In June, the Federal List of Extremist Organizations gained three new entries: the "international social movement Memorial" and the 35 organizations and projects recognized as its structural units, the St. Petersburg LGBT group Coming Out (Vykhod), and the Chelyabinsk criminal association "Makhoninskiye".

In April, the Zabaikalye Left Association (Zabaikalskoye levoye obyedineniye), designated a terrorist organization in January 2026, was added to the list of terrorist organizations. This association presumably consists of previously convicted Chita anarchists Alexander Snezhkov and Lyubov Lizunova, who had run their own Telegram channels.

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