RUSSIA: Prison terms for ‘foreign agents’ and supporters of an opposition movement
By Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers
HRWF (23.03.2026) – One of the key areas of repressive policies implemented in February 2026 concerned the measures applied to the so-called “foreign agents”. This status is regulated by the Federal Law “On Control over the Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence“, adopted in 2022 and significantly expanded by subsequent amendments afterwards.
About the law targeting “foreign agents”
According to Russian law, any individual or organization that, in the opinion of the authorities, receives foreign support or is under foreign influence and at the same time carries out the so-called “activities of public interest” can be recognized as a “foreign agent”.
Noteworthy is that foreign support is understood not only as direct funding, but also as other extremely broadly interpreted forms of interaction with foreign structures or persons.
The law defines “political activity” extremely broadly. In particular, it includes:
- public statements about the actions of the authorities;
- participation in public discussions, debates, public opinion polls;
- dissemination of information through the media or the Internet;
- activities in the field of protection of human rights and freedoms;
- participation in electoral processes or their monitoring.
In fact, journalists, human rights defenders, activists, bloggers, scientists and cultural figures may fall under the law, even if their activities are not aimed at supporting any political forces and are carried out exclusively for public or professional purposes.
Persons recognized as “foreign agents” are obliged to:
- regularly report to state authorities on their activities and finances;
- mark all published materials with a special indication of their status;
- notify partners, employers and even private contractors about their status;
- in some cases, use special bank accounts with a limited regime for the disposal of funds.
Violation of these requirements entails administrative and criminal liability. In particular, Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for criminal penalties for evading the duties of a foreign agent, including fines and imprisonment. In practice, this means that even formal or minor violations of reporting or labeling can become grounds for criminal prosecution.
Human rights organizations note that the institution of “foreign agents” in Russia has lost touch with the idea of transparency and has turned into a tool for stigmatizing and putting pressure on independent voices, restricting freedom of expression, association and participation in public life.
The case of political scientist Mikhail Savva in Krasnodar
In January, the Sovetsky District Court of Krasnodar found the political scientist Mikhail Savva guilty of evading the duties of a “foreign agent” (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code), sentencing him to 3.5 years in prison and a fine of 70 thousand rubles (about 700 euros). The verdict was passed taking into account the punishment imposed in a previous case:
Краснодарского политолога Михаила Савву заочно осудили на 3,5 года колонии по «иноагентской» статье
Earlier in 2014, Savva was sentenced to 3 years in prison on a suspended sentence in a case of fraud (Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The security forces accused him of embezzling 366,000 rubles allocated from the budget for a sociological study of attitudes towards migrants, as well as receiving money for a course of lectures at the Kuban State University, which he allegedly did not read.
Human rights defenders recognized the persecution as politically motivated. They noted that Savva investigated violations during NGO inspections in the Krasnodar Territory. Because of this case, Savva spent about 8 months in a pre-trial detention center.
Savva had been living in Ukraine since 2015, where he received refugee status.
After the departure of the political scientist from Russia, his suspended sentence was replaced with a real one, and a new criminal case of fraud was opened against him. This time he was accused of embezzling 150 thousand rubles allocated to his training center “Levados” from the regional budget for holding seminars. The state law enforcement agencies claimed that the classes were not held in full, and some teachers, who received honoraria according to the documents, did not give lectures and actually did not receive money.
In October 2023, Savva was included with others in the list of foreign agents. After that, he was repeatedly fined in administrative cases for violating the “foreign agent” legislation (Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative).
Support to opposition movements prosecuted by military courts
Among other repressive norms of criminal legislation applied in February 2026, cases of prosecution under Articles 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Assistance to terrorist activities”) and 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Financing of extremist activities”) were also recorded. At the same time, we are talking about the preservation of the practice of using broad anti-terrorist and anti-extremist norms as tools of criminal prosecution.
Pensioner sentenced to 9 years in prison in the case of donations to “Artpodgotovka”
Пенсионера приговорили к девяти годам колонии по делу о донатах «Артподготовке»
The 2nd Eastern District Military Court sentenced 63-year-old Krasnoyarsk resident Sergei Ninikin to nine years in prison. This was reported by «Mediazona» with reference to the press service of the court.
The man was found guilty under articles on financing an extremist organization and assisting terrorist activities (Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code and Part 1 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code).
From 2021 to March 2024, Ninikin made more than 40 transfers in the amount of 95 thousand rubles (about 1000 euros) “in favor of an extremist organization, later recognized as also terrorist.”
This organization was the “Artpodgotovka Movement”, created by supporters of politician Vyacheslav Maltsev, who ran a YouTube channel of the same name. The main thesis of the Artpodgotovka ideology was the belief in the inevitability of the revolution on 5 November 2017. He was elected three-time at the Saratov regional Duma (1994, 1997 and 2002).
A few days before the announced revolution, the court recognized Artpodgotovka as an extremist organization. Hundreds of his supporters were arrested in many cities of the country but Maltsev managed to escape. Criminal cases were opened against dozens of them.
In 2021, Artpodgotovka was included in the list of terrorist organizations.
The main thesis of the Artpodgotovka ideology was the belief in the inevitability of the revolution on 5 November 2017. However, despite this, on 26 October 2017, the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court recognized the MOD “Artpodgotovka” as extremist and banned its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation.
It was also the time when Alexei Navalny’s movement was very popular in Russia. A year before, he had announced his entry into the presidential race to be held in 2018.
