On October 3, 2018, President Vladimir Putin submitted to the Russian legislature a bill that decriminalized some of the deeds currently described in Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code. The article in question relates to “incitement to hatred,” which it defines as a crime. Alexander Verkhovsky, head of the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, explains the possible reasons behind the president's amendments and discusses whether they may be regarded as a softening move.

In October 2018, in the Stavropol Territory, vandals knocked down a worship cross, writing it with pagan runes and a swastika. On the night of October 14-15, 2018, an act of vandalism was committed in the Stavropol Territory. Unknown people knocked down a granite worship cross, installed on the site of an ancient Christian church of the 10th-11th centuries, and painted a swastika and several pagan runes on it.

A regular meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church took place in Minsk. The Synod appointed several new bishops, updated the composition of the Interdepartmental Coordinating Group for Teaching Theology in Universities, and also severed Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. On October 15, 2018, a regular meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church was held in Minsk.

A court in Orenburg softened the measure of crossing of three Jehovah's Witnesses, replacing house arrest with a ban on certain actions. On October 13, 2018, the Leninsky District Court of Orenburg considered a petition from the investigation to extend the house arrest of three Jehovah’s Witnesses accused of continuing the activities of a banned organization – Vladislav Kolbanov, Vladimir Kochnev, and Alexander Suvorov.

On October 16, 2018, in Moscow, FSB officers detained three alleged members of the far-right movement Committee Nation and Freedom. On October 16, 2018, two 17-year-old young people, Georgy and Andrey, were detained in Moscow, allegedly members of the ultra-right movement Committee "Nation and Freedom" (KNS).

The expert opinion of a culturologist helped to terminate the case initiated under Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. On October 12, 2018, the Novoilinsky District Court of Novokuznetsk terminated the proceedings on the case of an administrative offense, which was initiated under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (public demonstration of Nazi symbols) in relation to a local resident Konstantin Ostroukhov. Ostroukhov himself told Sova about this.

The Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow refused to satisfy the claim of the religious organization of Pentecostal Christians "Assembly of God" against the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia. Now Protestant priests can't draw up prisons in the Astrakhan region. October 15 2018, it became known that the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow refused to satisfy lawsuit filed by the religious organization of Pentecostal Christians "Assembly of God" against the Federal Penitentiary Service Russia.

The following is our review of the primary and most representativeevents in the misuse of Russia’s anti-extremist legislation in September 2018 . Lawmaking On September 20, 2018,the plenary meeting of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation adopted a new Resolution on the use of anti-extremist articles of theCriminal Code, making changes to the corresponding document of 2011 .