Week-ending 17 October 2025
“Branding advocacy against Russia’s criminal war in Ukraine as ‘terrorism’ turns reality upside down. It’s a move designed purely to instill fear and to erase the space for solidarity between Russians with anti-war views inside the country, and those forced into exile. The Russian authorities must immediately drop these absurd charges and end the misuse of terrorism-related, state security and ‘undesirable organizations’ legislation to silence dissent. The international community must urgently step up its efforts to support and protect Russian anti-war initiatives and individuals who continue to speak out against the war.”
– Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Source: ‘Russia: Authorities escalate attacks on activists in exile with “terrorism” charges against Anti-War Committee,’ Amnesty International, 14 October 2025
Background from Amnesty International: ‘On 14 October, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had initiated criminal proceedings against prominent exiled opposition figures including members of the Anti-War Committee of Russia. The charges have been brought in absentia against its 23 members including former prisoners of conscience Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Anastasia Shevchenko, as well as Russia’s former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, along with “other unidentified persons,” suggesting that the list of the accused may be open-ended. They are being investigated for attempting “violent seizure of power” (Article 278 of the Criminal Code) and “organization of a terrorist community” (Article 205.4(1 and 2), offences carrying potential life sentences. The Anti-War Committee was established by prominent Russian political émigrés in 2022. The FSB alleged that its objective is “changing the constitutional order” of Russia and “seizing power by force.” The organization was designated as “undesirable” by the Russian authorities in January 2024, a move that outlawed it and prohibited any collaboration with it inside Russia. A separate criminal case has also been opened against Mikhail Khodorkovsky under Article 205.2(2) for “public calls to carry out terrorist activities.”’
“In absentia judgments have become the Kremlin’s political weapon to hunt journalists in exile. They criminalise their return, threaten their families and seek to instil fear. RSF calls on European governments to respond to these measures and to treat the protection of journalism in exile as a matter of national security.
– Jeanne Cavelier, Head of the RSF Eastern Europe and Central Asia Desk
Source: ‘Exiled, convicted, surveilled: how Russia has prosecuted nearly 70 journalists beyond its borders,’ RSF. 15 October 2025
Background from RSF: ‘Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warns of Russia’s growing use of in absentia convictions against exiled Russian journalists and foreign media professionals. This repressive legal tactic is used to intimidate journalists, block their return to Russia and pressure their relatives, and has become commonplace since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Over 44 months, nearly 70 journalists have been targeted, according to data cross-checked by RSF and the Justice for Journalists Foundation (JFJ), a British charity.’
