Translated material
OVD-Info was added to the list of “extremist” organizations. What does it mean? And how to protect yourself?
On June 4, 2026, the human rights media project OVD-Info was included in the so-called Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists as an “extremist” organization.
We do not know exactly what served as the basis for inclusion in the list. But we assume that the authorities considered OVD-Info a structural subdivision of the non-existent “International Social Movement “Memorial”. It was declared an “extremist” organization by the Supreme Court and banned on April 9.
The meeting was then held behind closed doors, and the court's decision has not yet been published. So it is still impossible to say for sure what exactly was considered the “structural divisions” of the International Social Movement “Memorial”.
But we consider June 4, 2026 as the date on which it became officially known that the Russian authorities consider OVD-Info an “extremist” organization. From now on, you may be subject to liability for your interactions with us.
1. Who may be liable?
As of June 4, 2026, Russian authorities may prosecute any person who continues to interact with OVD-Info or support us.
2. What exactly is the liability for and what?
Those who continue to interact with OVD-Info from June 4, 2026 may face criminal or administrative liability. Which one depends on the specific actions.
Donations and purchases
The law prohibits the financing of extremist activities ( Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code ). This article is punishable by three to eight years in prison, a fine or forced labor.
Financing is understood as any transfer of funds to an extremist organization, in particular donations and purchases - from any cards, in any currency, for any amount.
In this case, the size of the transfer is not important - the amount can be small. We have no information about donation cases that were initiated as a result of the exchange of information between the Russian Federation and other countries. However, we believe that it is unsafe to transfer money from bank cards in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and other countries thatexchange financial information with the Russian Federation while in Russia. Security forces can easily find out about such transfers. Transferring money from cards of Russian banks is extremely dangerous, but in the case of OVD-Info this is impossible - it is impossible to support the project from a Russian card from March 2026.
Moreover, even if you donate from foreign cards or in anonymous cryptocurrency, but travel to Russia , you should be careful: security forces can find out about the transfer by gaining direct access to the device when crossing the border . How to protect yourself at the border - read our instructions , but do not share it publicly.
From what date are donations liable for liability?
Since June 4, 2026, when information about the declaration of OVD-Info as an “extremist” organization was first published. Donations in rubles have been disabled for a long time, so if you donated to us from ruble cards, there is no need to worry.
If you support us with a foreign card, travel to Russia and are worried about your safety, you can cancel your donation here .
If you still have concerns, doubts, or questions about donations, write to us at [email protected] . We urge you to write only from emails on non-Russian domains (for example, Gmail, Proton).
Participation in OVD-Info activities, including volunteering
This is the most “rubbery” type of interaction. People who continue to help OVD-Info in any form from June 4, 2026 may be held accountable , for example:
- be a project volunteer;
- distribute OVD-Info materials;
- give us interviews or comments;
- participate in events or hold joint events;
- make joint posts, campaigns;
- by any other means to facilitate the continuation of our activities.
We have already contacted or will contact everyone concerned in the near future and will tell you in detail what additional security measures should be taken.
Participation in any such activity may become a reason for initiating a case under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation . The maximum punishment is up to 6 years in prison.
Is asking for help in a bot or hotline considered participation?
According to the law, no, but we don’t know how the security forces will behave. At the moment, we do not know of a single case of persecution of people for seeking help from “extremist” organizations. We have temporarily disabled the hotline as it is not the most secure channel of communication with us, but we retain help in the bot .
Reposts of publications and links to content
According to the law, it is forbidden to repost and distribute materials that have been declared extremist by the court. They are included in the list of extremist materials of the Ministry of Justice - at the moment there are no OVD-Info materials on it.
But we know of at least three cases where reposts were qualified as participation in the activities of a banned organization. Therefore, it is not safe for those who are or visit Russia to publicly share any OVD-Info materials - including these instructions.
It is also safer to delete old reposts and links to our materials in the public domain - especially if there are a lot of them or they contain symbols, for example OVD-Info logos. Security forces consider publishing on the Internet a continuing offense.
Publication/display of logo and other symbols
Publishing symbols of “extremist” organizations is considered an administrative offense (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). The problem is that we do not know what specific symbols the authorities banned, but we can assume that this is at least the OVD-Info logo.
That is, they can be held accountable for a badge on outerwear, a sticker on a case, or our logo on your social networks - including in old publications, even five years ago (security forces consider publications on the Internet a continuing offense). The maximum penalty is 15 days of administrative arrest.
At the same time, having books published with our participation or merchandise at home should not be considered a violation. In the worst case, security forces may use such materials if they discover them as one of the proofs of your connection with OVD-Info.
Repeated display of prohibited symbols may result in criminal prosecution.
If a person was brought to administrative responsibility under Art. 20.3 of the Administrative Code, then within a year after serving the sentence (payment of a fine or after arrest) he is at risk of criminal liability . If it is discovered that he repeatedly demonstrated extremist symbols, a criminal case may be opened under Article 282.4 of the Criminal Code. The maximum penalty under this article is 4 years in prison.
Calls to support OVD-Info
Involving new participants in an extremist organization or community (Part 1.1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) is punishable by four to eight years in prison. Involvement will include requests for help , job offers , and searches for people . In this case, it does not matter whether the person managed to “involve” someone or not - the crime is considered completed in any case.
Comments, posts, reposts, streams and any other public calls to support OVD-Info after June 4, 2026 can be qualified as public calls for extremist activity (Article 280 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). This is punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
Mentions without a tag
It is legal to mention an extremist organization, but with an indication that it is prohibited. The rule applies to individuals, organizations and the media. We are aware of cases of persecution under Part 2 of Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for failure to indicate information about the prohibition of activities and liquidation of such an organization. The maximum penalty for citizens is a fine of up to 2,500 rubles.
The note can be in any form, for example: “An organization whose activities are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation”, “An organization prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation”.
3. Are subscriptions to OVD-Info and likes on social networks safe?
The law does not prohibit subscribing to channels, accounts, and mailing lists of “extremist” organizations. We are not yet aware of the practice of bringing people to justice for just one subscription, but it may attract the attention of law enforcement agencies.
The same goes for likes - especially on social networks where you can see who gave the reaction.
4. Is it possible to search for OVD-Info materials on the Internet?
Formally, yes. Declaring an organization “extremist” does not automatically make its materials “extremist.” Materials that are separately recognized by such a court and included in a special list are considered extremist .
But we don’t know how the security forces will behave. Therefore, for security, it is better to use a reliable VPN (always), disable search history in the browser, transfer subscriptions to mailing lists to emails of non-Russian domains (for example, Gmail, Proton). Also, you should not use Russian search engines to search for prohibited materials or materials from organizations declared extremist or terrorist.
5. How to protect yourself? Short checklist
If you are in Russia, we recommend:
- do not publish links to OVD-Info materials in the public domain, including in general chats or your accounts on social networks;
- do not repost materials from OVD-Info social networks and delete old reposts;
- do not publish posts on social networks with links to materials or websites of OVD-Info;
- do not publish screenshots or PDF versions of OVD-Info materials and any information with our logo;
- do not mention us without noting that, in the opinion of the Russian authorities, the activities of OVD-Info are prohibited in Russia;
- do not call for support for us and delete posts from previous years where this is present.
If you are going to cross the Russian border or do so often:
- if possible, do not take with you a main device that contains traces of your support for OVD-Info; instead, take and prepare a spare device;
- We recommend removing all links to OVD-Info publications from personal social networks and public chats before crossing the border. But remember that if you are a public person, engaged in political or activist activities, your social networks could be monitored and screenshots taken by security forces;
- delete correspondence with the OVD-Info bot before crossing the border; do not block it, otherwise security forces will be able to see it in the list of blocked bots if they gain access to your device;
- cancel donations to OVD-Info and other projects, the support of which the Russian state considers a crime; temporarily remove banking applications that contain traces of such donations;
- remove all mentions and letters using keywords (this could be “OVD-Info” or any other name of the organization);
- re-read the instructions for crossing the border .
All these rules should be followed, including when communicating with unfamiliar people on the Internet - do not share our materials with those you do not trust.
If you have friends or family in Russia who supported our project, you can share these instructions with them in private messages.
6. Where to turn for help now?
- Firstly, all our instructions remain available and we can still write to the bot .
- Secondly, other human rights projects continue to operate in Russia: “First Department” @deptonebot , “Prison Lawyer” @prison_hot_line and “Solidarity Zone” [email protected] .
