Russian authorities label 68 unknown “organizations” as terrorist groups, some turn out to be memes

Cover photo: Flags of the non-existent “Kursk People’s Republic” (“KPR”) — a meme created in Ukrainian social media circles.

RU

In November 2024, Russia's Supreme Court designated the “Forum of Free Nations of Post-Russia” and its “structural divisions” as a terrorist organization. The Federal Security Service (FSB) later published a list of 172 entities it alleged were a part of the Forum. But when independent media and human rights organization OVD-Info analyzed the list, it determined that 68 of the organizations named there likely do not exist, as no information about them can be found online.

According to OVD-Info, regional activists and experts across Russia question the existence of movements like the “Oryol Autonomous Republic,” the “Republic of Muscovy,” or the “Northern Union.”

Some entities on the FSB list turned out to be memes created in Ukrainian social media circles — such as the “Belgorod People’s Republic” (“BPR”) and the “Kursk People’s Republic” (“KPR”), which mimic the names of self-proclaimed entities located in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine — the so-called “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk. News of the “BPR” being recognized as extremist was reported on Jan. 14 by the regional publication Fonar.

The Russian Supreme Court has also labeled 11 regional media outlets as “divisions” of the Forum — including Komi Daily and TatPolit. Journalists from these outlets have denied having any connections to the Forum. The list also includes 20 armed groups fighting alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine, five partisan groups, as well as various regional initiatives uniting activists from Russia's indigenous peoples.

The “Forum of Free Nations of Post-Russia” was the 60th organization to be added to Russia’s Unified Federal List of Terrorist Organizations. The Forum, founded by former Russian State Duma MP Ilya Ponomarev, aims to “develop approaches for establishing transitional administrations and governments for post-Putin independent states within Russia.”