Report: Russia continues to persecute its critics abroad
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia, Mariana Katzarova, stated that Moscow has created a system for monitoring, intimidating, and punishing critics abroad, as well as exerting pressure on their families in Russia. The report is based on nearly 400 documented cases.
**Report: Russia continues to persecute its critics abroad**
Russia has formed a state system aimed at monitoring, intimidating, and punishing its critics abroad, as well as putting pressure on their family members remaining in the country. This conclusion is outlined in the report of Mariana Katzarova, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation.
The document was presented to the UN Human Rights Council on September 21.
Katzarova stated that Russia uses a system of "transnational repression" to pressure critics abroad. The Special Rapporteur assessed this system as an extension of the state-sponsored system of repression inside the country.
"Leaving Russia does not mean leaving Russian repression behind," she said.
The report is based on nearly 400 documented cases of persecution. It notes targeted violence and threats to life, such as murder, attempted murder, assault, and poisoning, as the most severe forms of repression.
According to the document, Russia ranks third among ten countries that account for more than 70 percent of direct physical attacks recorded over the last decade.
Katzarova emphasized that there is almost no accountability for such actions. According to her, in most cases, no investigation is conducted, Russian authorities deny their involvement, and some suspected perpetrators are even incentivized or rewarded.
The Special Rapporteur estimates that between 650,000 and 900,000 people left the country after 2022, when Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine began.
While there were 29 documented cases of transnational repression in the eight years leading up to 2022, that number reached 89 in the following three years.
At the same time, the number of in absentia convictions increased from four in 2022 to 157 in 2025.
The report claims that at least nine units of the Russian Federal Security Service, military and foreign intelligence, prosecutorial bodies, and state ministries are involved in transnational repression.
According to Katzarova, after 2022, the methods of carrying out repressions changed more than their scale. Currently, arrest warrants, databases, banking and digital systems, strategic lawsuits against public participation, and intermediaries are being used.