The American legal entity FBK was recognized as a “terrorist organization.” What does this mean for his supporters?

The American legal entity FBK was recognized as a “terrorist organization.” What does this mean for his supporters?

The Supreme Court on Thursday declared the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), the American legal entity of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a “terrorist organization.” The TASS state agency has already threatened... pic.twitter.com/vT8sdqUozv

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The American legal entity FBK was recognized as a “terrorist organization.” What does this mean for his supporters? The Supreme Court on Thursday declared the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), the American legal entity of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a “terrorist organization.” The TASS state agency has already threatened ACF sponsors with life sentences. Those who collaborated with Russian legal entities of FBK should not face liability under terrorism charges, lawyers say. However, only judicial practice can show what will happen in reality.

Details. The decision was made by judge Oleg Nefedov at a closed meeting and took effect immediately. The court explained its decision by saying that the goals and actions of the foundation “are aimed at promoting, justifying and supporting terrorism.” The decision named Leonid Volkov as the head of ACF. According to the ACF website , Volkov is only the head of political projects.

• ️ Previously, Nefedov recognized the “ international Satanism movement ” and the “ LGBT movement ” as “extremist organizations.” In 2023 and 2024 , he rejected Alexei Navalny's claims against the rules of the colony where he was imprisoned.
• ️ The creation of the ACF was announced after the court recognized the Russian FBK and Navalny’s Headquarters as “extremist organizations” in the summer of 2021. The American legal entity was used to collect donations, Volkov explained .

FBK position. The new status will complicate the work of FBK, Volkov believes. “That is, in reality, jokes aside, our practical international activities related to work on sanctions, international lobbying, international politics, moving around the world, fundraising will be even more difficult,” he said.

• ️ According to Volkov, it will become easier for the Russian authorities to persecute FBK supporters. Courts will be able to impose more severe punishments, and criminal cases will be conducted by the FSB, not the Investigative Committee.

Lawyers' opinion. Terrorist articles imply stricter sentences than extremist articles. For example, for participation in an “ extremist organization ” the penalty is from 2 to 6 years, in a “terrorist” organization - from 10 to 20 years.

• ️ If you follow the letter of the law, then the consequences should only occur for actions related to ACF, and should not concern those who collaborated or donated to the Russian FBK and Navalny’s Headquarters, says OVD-Info lawyer Valeria Vetoshkina. However, “this does not mean that the security forces will not begin to identify their headquarters with this American organization,” she made a reservation. “Practice is very often formed at FBK,” agrees First Department lawyer Evgeny Smirnov.
• ️ Risks for cooperation with a “terrorist organization” arise only after it is included in the register, Smirnov told the Agency. There should be no liability for cooperation before this, he clarified. The exception is the case when a case of a terrorist community arises. In this case, people who collaborated with the “terrorist organization” before it was included in the register may be at risk. According to Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation , for creating a territorial community you face a life sentence, for participation in it - up to 15 years.
• ️ Vetoshkina recalled that in the case of the Russian FBK this is exactly what happened: in order to prosecute people for actions committed before the organization was recognized as “extremist”, a case was opened regarding the “extremist community” . By July 2025, cases were brought against at least 45 people for participation in this “community,” according to data from the “Support for Political Prisoners” project. Memorial". According to Mediazona, at least 76 criminal cases were opened for financing the “extremist organization” FBK.

Are there any risks for subscribers to FBK projects? So far in Russia, subscriptions and reposts have not been punished as participation in someone else’s activities, Vetoshkina noted. She recalled only one case - fines to two Rostovites allegedly for subscribing to the telegram channel of the Anti-War Committee of Russia, however, according to her, in these cases it is not entirely clear whether the subscriptions were the reason for the punishment.

TASS is authorized to declare. Commenting on the court's decision, the state agency drew attention only to the responsibility of ACF sponsors. As lawyer Vladimir Shelupakhin told TASS, they could face up to life imprisonment (Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).