Making Political Repression Visible: Our Work in 2025

2025 marked a further escalation of political repression by the Russian authorities. Over the course of the year, the number of people deprived of their liberty on politically motivated and unlawful grounds recorded in our database increased from 2,662 to 4,884. The number of recognised political prisoners rose from 803 to 1,262.

Repression also grew harsher in nature. More serious criminal charges were applied with increasing frequency, prison sentences became longer, and the use of torture became even more widespread.

By the end of the year, terrorism-related charges accounted for 45% of all newly initiated politically motivated criminal cases, while charges of high treason made up 27%.

At the same time, the authorities increasingly concealed information about political repression and restricted public access to it. For organisations and initiatives working to resist repression, this was an exceptionally difficult year: some were forced to cease operations altogether, while many others significantly scaled back their activities.

Against this backdrop, the demand for reliable information about people imprisoned for political reasons, as well as for legal, humanitarian, and practical support, continued to grow. We worked every day to respond to this demand, and achieved tangible results.

Pressure on our own project also intensified. In January 2025, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated it a so-called ‘foreign agent’. In August, a Russian court sentenced the project’s head, Sergey Davidis, in absentia to six years’ imprisonment on charges of ‘justifying terrorism’ for publicly supporting political prisoners.

As pressure on human rights organisations increases, the public importance of this work becomes ever more evident.

What We Did in 2025

Supporting People Targeted by Political Repression

Throughout the year, we received a wide range of requests for assistance from people facing politically motivated prosecution. Some requests were referred to partner organisations — maintaining close cooperation with initiatives providing different forms of support is a vital part of our work.

Thanks to the regular support of our donors, we were able to provide direct assistance to people imprisoned for political reasons:

• 214 people received support overall
• 76 people received legal assistance
• 149 people received humanitarian aid
• 209 months of legal work were provided during court proceedings and pre-trial investigations to defend 41 people
• 92 lawyer visits to pre-trial detention centres and penal colonies were arranged
• 175 humanitarian parcels were sent
• Prison accounts of 21 people were topped up for a total of 677,383 roubles
• Two families received support for travel to long prison visits
• Three families in critical situations following arrests received emergency assistance

Documenting and Exposing Political Repression

In 2025, we continued to collect, systematise, and analyse information on politically motivated persecution; maintain lists of political prisoners; prepare analytical materials; and inform international audiences about repression in Russia.

We continuously update and expand our database of people prosecuted on political grounds. It remains the most comprehensive and up-to-date public database of individuals in Russia subjected to politically motivated criminal prosecution.

By the end of the year:

• The total number of records of politically motivated criminal cases exceeded 9,000
• The number of people currently deprived of their liberty on politically motivated grounds reached 4,884

In June, we made the database publicly accessible, enabling open access to study and analyse data on political repression.

New Entries in 2025

Over the course of the year, the database was expanded to include 2,935 new entries.

What we know about these people:

• 2,877 are currently under prosecution
• 2,264 are deprived of their liberty
• Prosecution of 1,571 people began in 2025
• 949 are Ukrainian citizens
• 659 are from occupied territories
• 179 are minors

Recognising Political Prisoners

We continued to expand the official lists of political prisoners based on written, reasoned analysis in line with the definition adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

This work accelerated significantly in 2025. Over the year, we prepared 323 analytical case assessments, on the basis of which 587 people were recognised as political prisoners.

Analysis and Public Reporting

In 2025, we published 11 analytical reports, including our annual report on political persecution in Russia.

The most widely read publication was our overview of the persecution of people returning to Russia. Posts about the report across various platforms amassed over one million views, and the analysis proved critical for individuals demonstrating the risks of returning to Russia to foreign authorities.

New analytical formats allowed us to systematically examine the structure of repression in Russia. We documented the use of torture and operational provocations, the persecution of specific social groups, and the targeting of supporters of particular political organisations, including the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). Our overview of provocations in politically motivated cases also received significant attention.

In addition, we launched the Repression Barometer, a quarterly overview tracking trends in political persecution.

Expanding Our Reach

We continued to grow our audience and draw greater attention to the need to support political prisoners. Throughout the year, we maintained seven social media accounts in Russian and English and shared key news and analytical materials through our mailing list.

We also updated our visual identity and relaunched our English-language platforms.

Despite censorship, blocking, and increasingly restrictive legislation, visits to our website grew by 17%, reaching 1.1 million views.

More than 100 media publications were produced based on comments and interviews with our team.

In total, our website and social media content accumulated over 9 million views.

Building Solidarity with Political Prisoners

We maintained an up-to-date database of addresses of people imprisoned for political reasons. Over the year, profiles of more than 1,700 imprisoned individuals not yet officially recognised as political prisoners were created on our website.

In addition to addresses, we collected and published information on ways to offer support, active fundraising campaigns, support groups, and other essential resources.

Each week, we published updated lists of new prison addresses and volunteer-organised letter-writing events around the world.

In January, Memorial, together with the Ukrainian Centre for Civil Liberties, launched the international People First campaign. The campaign calls for the prioritised release of people deprived of their liberty as a result of the war during any peace negotiations, particularly those imprisoned by Russian authorities for anti-war statements or actions in support of Ukraine. More than 80 human rights organisations worldwide supported the initiative, and our project actively contributed to its promotion throughout the year.

Members of our team participated in over 50 international events to draw attention to political repression in Russia and the importance of solidarity with political prisoners.

We also supported the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, providing information on political repression for her reports.

In addition, we helped organise numerous solidarity actions, including columns in support of political prisoners at the anti-war march in Berlin, the Women Against War exhibition organised by Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAS), and advocacy campaigns in support of Alexander Strukov.

Our final solidarity campaign of the year was a large New Year fundraising drive to support political prisoners, joined by 15 partner organisations.

Finances

Support in 2025

• 11,718,446 roubles donated for direct assistance to people facing political persecution
• 6,105,738 roubles donated to support the organisation’s work
• 32 fundraising campaigns held for political prisoners
• 5,321 people contributed — from Russia and other countries
  

Expenditure

• 13,425,555.98 roubles spent on legal assistance
• 2,447,223.04 roubles spent on humanitarian aid

Acknowledgements

We thank our donors, partners, volunteers, journalists, bloggers, and everyone who supported our work in 2025.

Each year, our work becomes more urgently needed and more challenging. Nevertheless, our team continues to adapt to changing realities and to expand and strengthen support for political prisoners.

None of this would be possible without you.

Thank you for your support.

Freedom for all political prisoners.