Anti-extremist law enforcement in May 2026

We are publishing a review of anti-extremist enforcement in May 2026 in the area of regulation of public speech, organized activity and attacks on material objects not related to xenophobia.

We became aware of 42 sentences handed down in May against 60 people, which included charges of involvement in extremist and terrorist communities and organizations whose activities we monitor .

Three people were convicted of collaborating with far-right organizations: one with the people-hate network MKU , two with an unnamed organization.
15 - for cooperation with banned Ukrainian organizations. Of these, eight were with the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), two of them were for attempting to poison humanitarian aid intended for the Espanyol detachment and residents of the DPR, six were for collaborating with the Russian Freedom Legion (LSR), and one was with the Right Sector.
One, the administrator of the Free Lapland Telegram channel, was convicted of involvement in the Post-Russian Forum of Free States.
One is for financing Artpodgotovka.
One - for involvement in the association of “citizens of the USSR” (with a high degree of probability).
14 people (13 of them are prisoners of colonies) - for involvement in the criminal subculture AUE .
One is for involvement in the Columbine movement.

We consider 19 sentences (out of 42) that were passed against 24 people to be unlawful or rather unlawful.

13 of them were convicted of financing the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) after it was recognized as an extremist organization; one, in absentia, presumably for involvement with the structures of Alexei Navalny.
Four people in different regions were convicted for continuing the activities of Jehovah's Witness communities.
In Khakassia, a local resident was convicted of distributing materials related to the teachings of Falun Dafa for involvement in the activities of the corresponding regional organization, which was recognized as extremist.
Five Crimeans were sentenced in the case of involvement in the radical Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The courts sentenced 45 people to actual imprisonment, five to probation, nine were fined, and one was sentenced to forced labor.

During the month, at least 19 cases of this kind were initiated against 20 people (excluding AUE cases). Among their defendants are “citizens of the USSR”, donors of “Artpodgotovka”, FBK and an unnamed pro-Ukrainian organization.

In total, since the beginning of the year, we have learned about 174 court decisions in cases of this kind in relation to 222 people. Of these, two have been sent for compulsory treatment since the beginning of the year, and the prosecution of one person was stopped by the court due to his death. We classify 81 sentences against 102 people as unlawful in whole or in part.

We have information about 41 sentences passed in May, in which the articles of the Criminal Code on public statements of interest to us appeared, against 42 people. Seven verdicts against seven people, in our assessment, were unlawful.

These decisions can be divided according to the direction of the statements, taking into account the possibility of intersection, as follows.

13 people were convicted of statements of an ethnoxenophobic nature. These people were mostly punished for posting comments denying and justifying the Holocaust, as well as calls for violent actions against natives of the Caucasus and Central Asia and migrants. Four people were convicted of offline acts. Three for displaying their own tattoos with Nazi symbols. Another intoxicated man attacked a local resident, shouting xenophobic slurs and threatening him with “an object that looked like a gun.”
One man was convicted of comments on a messaging app calling for violence, “including murder, against groups of people united along religious lines.”
Two people - for statements or actions that the authorities regarded as attacks on traditional Russian symbols and values. We are talking about the sentences of a “citizen of the USSR” from Orenburg for a picture with the St. George’s ribbon and a Moscow bar worker for a publication about a hookah on Easter cake . In both cases, we consider the criminal prosecution to be unlawful.
20 people - for statements on the topic of the armed conflict with Ukraine; We consider the sentences of five of them to be at least partially unlawful.
Four people - for other statements in instant messengers and social networks, one way or another directed against the authorities.
Two people - for demonstrating AUE symbols.

Six people were prosecuted for offline statements, four for both offline and online statements, and the rest for online statements.

24 people were sentenced to actual terms of imprisonment, nine to suspended sentences, five to fines, and one to forced labor.

In the absence of information about the circumstances conducive to the imposition of imprisonment, 10 people were sentenced to such punishment for public statements in May.

In total, since the beginning of the year, we have become aware of 239 court decisions in cases related to public statements, against 251 people. One person was acquitted, three were sent for compulsory treatment, the rest were given one or another punishment. We considered 54 court decisions against 58 people to be completely or partially unlawful.

We have information about 38 new criminal cases initiated in May against 38 people for public statements under articles of interest to us.

In May, at least three sentences were passed against five people for attacks on material objects under the articles of interest to us, regarding which we do not have sufficient grounds to say that these attempts were committed based on national or religious hatred. Young people from Buryatia were convicted of graffiti in support of the RDK: two minors were sentenced to a year of restriction of freedom only under Art. 214 of the Criminal Code (vandalism), and their leader, who was charged with more serious charges, was sentenced to imprisonment by the court. A 19-year-old far-right activist from Kotlas, Arkhangelsk region, was convicted of disabling video surveillance cameras; in combination with more serious charges, he was also sentenced to imprisonment.

In St. Petersburg, a Moscow resident was also sentenced to imprisonment for writing anti-war inscriptions on city objects; however, he was given credit for his pre-trial detention and released in the courtroom. This sentence seems to us to be unjustified .

During May, we learned about five criminal cases of this kind had been initiated. In four cases, we were talking about accusations of desecration of symbols of military glory: torn down banners and flags with military-patriotic symbols, lighting a cigarette from the Eternal Flame, as well as a pro-Ukrainian statement and an offensive gesture at a military memorial. We consider these accusations to be unjustified.

Another case was initiated under Part 2 of Art. 167 of the Criminal Code (destruction or damage of property motivated by hatred) - in connection with the arson of a car in Obninsk. And this is the first case known to us of using the motive of hatred in this article this year. Unfortunately, we do not know what exactly the motive for this arson was.

In total, since the beginning of the year, we have learned about 26 people convicted of attacks on material objects - minus those who were convicted of such attempts committed based on national or religious hatred.

In May, we noted 16 decisions on administrative offenses that the courts issued under Art. 20.3.1 Code of Administrative Offenses (incitement of hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity). They were talking, in particular, about xenophobic statements posted on VKontakte, including those addressed to natives of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Roma.

We are inclined to consider seven decisions to be unlawful. We are talking about punishments for comments critical of government officials, including members of United Russia, police officers, and military personnel. In addition, in one case, Art. 20.3.1 The Code of Administrative Offenses was used to punish a comment under a post about an ex-prisoner who had returned to his native village: experts found in this comment a statement about the need to take the lives of “convicts who entered service in private military companies,” although it seems to us that it was more about approving the death penalty for particularly serious crimes.

In three cases, compulsory labor was imposed (on the same person); in other cases, the courts limited themselves to fines.

In total, since the beginning of the year, we know of 323 court decisions under Art. 20.3.1 Code of Administrative Offences. We considered 45 cases of persecution to be unlawful. In addition, in two cases the cases were dismissed to avoid repeated punishment, in three cases - due to the lack of corpus delicti or the insanity of the person involved.

We became aware of five cases of punishment in May under Art. 20.29 Code of Administrative Offenses (mass distribution of extremist materials). In Moscow, anti-Semitic poet Nikolai Bogolyubov received 15 days of administrative arrest for distributing the book “The Myth of the Holocaust” and the disc “No Death” with the song “Zone 282” at his own literary evening “Sky of the Slavs”. Three people were fined for posting a comment on VKontakte with the slogan “Russia for Russians,” songs popular with the far right, and a song by the Chechen armed resistance bard Timur Mutsuraev. A resident of Cherkessk was fined for distributing the book “The Fortress of a Muslim” at the entrance to an Islamic goods store; we consider this decision to be clearly unlawful. In total, since the beginning of the year, we have learned about 34 cases of imposition of fines under Art. 20.29 of the Administrative Code, 11 of which we consider unlawful.

On May 22, the book “Chronicles of the Revived Arkanar” by St. Petersburg politician Boris Vishnevsky was added to the Federal List of Extremist Materials under item 5499. The city court decided to ban it in November 2025. We consider this ban unlawful .

In May, the federal list of extremist organizations was replenished with two items. It added the punk group Pussy Riot, which was banned in December 2025 by the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow, and the Tatar ethnonationalist and separatist movement VATANÇI (VATANCHI, VATANCHI, “Patriot”), recognized as extremist by the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan in March 2026.

For prosecution of crimes against person and property motivated by hatred, see another review .

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