RUSSIA: Memorial, Nobel Peace Prize 2022, declared extremist and banned by Putin (1)
On 1 May, Labour Day, let us remember the Russian citizens who worked for human rights, their historical memory, reconciliation and peace but have been victims of Putin’s rule
HRWF (01.05.2026) – On 9 April 2026, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation declared the International Public Movement Memorial (Nobel Peace Prize 2022), an extremist organization and banned its activities throughout the country.
This move further criminalized the work of independent rights defenders in Russia, building on previous actions in 2021 that liquidated other Memorial entities, such as the International Memorial Association and the Memorial Human Rights Center.
This was the last nail hammered into the coffin of Memorial.
The status of a “foreign agent” first created administrative pressure, the liquidation destroyed the legal structure, and the status of “extremist organization” led to the criminalization and the capital punishment of Memorial.
Many people close to Memorial are now at risk in Russia: not only the staff of Memorial, but also supporters, researchers, donors and everyone who continues to work undercover on the topic of historical memory.
The decision of the Supreme Court is already being called one of the most resonant blows to the human rights movement in the Russian Federation. This assassination was committed in the total indifference of the international media, which was too preoccupied with Trump’s war in Iran and Israel’s wars against the Hamas in Gaza and the Hezbollah in Lebanon. No movement of protest and no public demonstration. In the best case, some political declarations on the global scene but only words, no actions.
It is important to understand that Memorial is not just a non-governmental organization. It is one of the main keepers of the historical memory concerning the political repression in the USSR in the 20th century and also a key actor documenting human rights violations in the current Russian Federation.
The process engaged by Memorial could have been the main driving force leading to the equivalent of the denazification of Germany after WWII. This self-purification was followed by reconciliation between the warring countries, decades of reconciliation in Western Europe, and the construction of the EU. In Russia, a similar movement of self-purification was nipped in the bud and that is why war is back on the European continent.
The recognition of Memorial as an extremist organization was not a sudden decision, but the logical outcome of many years of conflictual interaction.
Why Memorial became inconvenient and unwelcome for the Russian state
Memorial was first engaged in research on Soviet terror, Gulag archives, search for mass graves, publication of lists of victims, and restoration of their honour.
At the same time, the organization documented contemporary human rights violations: the wars in Chechnya, the conflicts in Georgia and Ukraine, the persecution and imprisonment of political activists, arbitrary detentions and pressure on civil society inside Russia.
It is this link between the past and the present that has become fundamental in the mission of Memorial but also politically disturbing. A “Never Again” movement was not allowed to exist.
Memorial showed that the repression in the Soviet times was not only a historical issue, but it remained an ongoing political practice. For the authorities, this meant a direct challenge to the official version of history, which focuses on the “glorious past” rather than on the state’s crimes against its own citizens.
Today, the Russian authorities claim the opposite: research work on historical memory is a threat to the state.
In 2021, when Memorial was liquidated, President Vladimir Putin said that Memorial was trying to protect those who are included in the list of terrorists and extremists in Russia. The prosecutor’s office also called it a threat to society, accusing the organization of using Western money to focus on the crimes of the Soviet Union instead of celebrating “our glorious past.”
Memorial, Andrei Sakharov and the EU Sakharov Prize
The history of Memorial began with the emergence of an initiative group in Moscow, which first aimed to perpetuate the memory of the victims of political repression under Stalin. Similar groups subsequently began to appear in other parts of the USSR.
This movement was closely associated with the famous academician Andrei Sakharov (May 1921 – December 1989) who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 for defending human rights around the world.
In 1988, after his internal exile (1980-1986) to Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) with his wife Elena Bonner, he became the chairman of Memorial.
The official registration of Memorial in all the republics of the Russian Federation took place after Sakharov’s death in 1989 in April 1991. It was then the condition put forward by his widow to accept the proposal of Soviet Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev to succeed him at the head of Memorial.
For decades, Memorial has preserved the memory of the victims of Stalin’s repressions in the Soviet Union and has protected human rights in the Russian Federation since its creation in 1991.
It was this combination that made Memorial unique: the organization not only studied the past, but also highlighted its connection with modern political repression.
In 1988, the European Parliament created the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and then awarded it to Nelson Mandela (South Africa) and Anatoli Marchenko (Soviet Union). Since then the Prize has been attributed to another laureate every year on 10 December, UN Human Rights Day, in an official ceremony in the European Parliament.
International recognition and Nobel Prize
In 2022, Memorial was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
For Memorial, this was an official recognition that it was not just a Russian non-governmental organization, but an important institution for the protection of human dignity and historical truth.
On 10 December 2022, Jan Rachinsky delivered the Nobel Peace Prize lecture “Peace, memory, freedom” on behalf of Memorial at the Oslo City Hall in Norway.
He stressed that Memorial had been in existence for 35 years, and had groups working in many regions of Russia, in Ukraine, and in several countries of Western Europe.
And he added “The Nobel Peace Prize is a tribute to each of these organizations, to each of the thousands of people taking part in the activities of Memorial – their members, colleagues, volunteers, participants in public actions. This tribute is for them, and for those from Memorial who are no longer with us, in particular those people who did so much in the founding of Memorial and made it what it is today: Andrei Sakharov, Arseny Roginsky, Sergei Kovalyov, and many others. This prize is theirs.”
This is the European spiritual legacy “made in Russia” that President Putin smashed with the banning of Memorial and his war on Ukraine
Photo Nobel Center in Oslo (Credit: Human Rights Without Frontiers)
