We publish a report on political prisoners and political repression in Russia in 2023

In the past year, repression in Russia has increasingly expanded amid the war against Ukraine. Repression against dissidents inside the country has become inseparable from the war of aggression against its neighbours.

The “Political Prisoners. Memorial” human rights project presents the report “Political Prisoners and Political Repression in Russia in 2023”. In the report, we analyse the main trends in politically motivated persecution in Russia over the past year.

Our report is, admittedly, not exhaustive, but it gives a fairly detailed picture of repression in Russia, which is now inseparable from the war against Ukraine.

The report categorises selected cases of politically motivated persecution by victimised groups and by instruments of repression. 

Of course, the greatest damage of political repression has been inflicted on citizens of Ukraine and opponents of the war inside Russia, but more and more people from a wide range of groups in Russian society are becoming victims of repression.

As characteristics of repressive policy in 2023, we identify in particular:

• further increase in the scale of repression;
• further toughening of punishments;
• increased intolerance of the authorities to any departure from the standards set by the state;
• increasing disregard for even an imitation of compliance with the standards and principles of law;
• the increasing role of direct violence;
• the abandonment of comparatively more lenient treatment of women, the elderly and children.

Despite the increase in repression, it remains largely selective, which means the potential for further expansion and growth remains.

‘Last year, repression did not undergo the same qualitative change as in 2022. There was more of a quantitative build-up, accompanied by a hardening, an increasing role for violence and disregard for the law. The main thing in 2023 was the establishment of stable links between war and repression, which supported and reinforced each other,’ says Sergey Davidis, the head of the “Political Prisoners. Memorial” human rights project.

You can download the text of the report on our website.

Download the report in English

Download the report in Russian

The report was produced as a part of the European Human Rights Dialogue project with financial support from the programme “Expanding Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia” (Eastern Partnership Programme) of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.