On 23 November, President Vladimir Putin signed two bills into law, one on banning “child-free propaganda” (meaning adults actively choosing not to have children) and another on the adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where it is legal to change one’s gender. Individuals found guilty of the former offense will be subject to fines up to RUB 400,000 (USD 3,900 when the law was passed) and legal entities up to RUB 5 million (USD 47,000). What constitutes “child-free propaganda” is not made explicit in the law. Russian officials have said the purpose of the laws is to raise Russia’s birth rate, defend “traditional values”, and defend the Russian people from, in the words of one of the bill’s authors, “a hybrid war aimed at population reduction.” While authorities have stressed women will not be legally punished for declining to have children, public statements encouraging women to not have, or to have fewer children, will be subject to the law. 

Sources: Meduza, Interfax 

Since the deadly terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow in March, Russian officials have increasingly infringed on the rights of Central Asian migrants, engaged more frequently in anti-migrant rhetoric, and passed legislation restricting migrant rights in July. The legislation permits police to deport non-citizens without a court order for a wide range of offenses, and deportations in the first seven months of 2024 were up 53 per cent compared to 2023. Attacks and violent raids on businesses where migrants work occur more frequently, and a raid in Yekaterinburg in August where police permitted nationalist volunteers to harass and steal from Central Asian market vendors made national headlines. Nineteen regional authorities across Russia have banned migrants from a wide range of occupations, and increased bureaucracy of migrant-dominated fields like taxi driving have put migrants at higher risk of discrimination. An estimated 3.5 million Central Asian migrants live in Russia, and researchers noted in October the government had stopped providing statistics on migration. 

Sources: iStories, Meduza, International IDEA, 66.ru, Lenta.ru, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 

The budget the Russian government submitted on 30 September to the State Duma for the years 2025-2027 is set to be the most secretive in the country’s post-Soviet history, with an estimated 31.6 per cent of expenditures marked as classified. An estimated 22.6 per cent of the 2023 budget and 26.8 per cent of the 2024 budget were classified. Analysts suggest the increase is an attempt to obfuscate the amount of state spending being directed to the military, and investigative outlet The Bell noted that even once relatively open Russian business media outlets had refrained from discussing the budget in detail. Military expenditures have also historically been a major source of graft and corruption in Russia. 

Sources: The Bell, Meduza 

Russian media and internet censor Roskomnadzor banned and blocked the messaging and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) app Discord on 8 October, citing failure to comply with a 1 October order to remove 947 pieces of content ostensibly related to terrorism, extremists, drugs, or other “illegal information.” Russian law bans the promotion of what regulators deem extremist, terrorist, or drug-related content. Few legal criteria defining these terms exist in Russian law and regulators and prosecutors are given broad leeway. Russian censors have progressively blocked more and more Western-founded apps since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the government encourages Russian users to adopt locally-owned alternatives. 

Source: TASS, Deutsche Welle, International IDEA 

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on 3 October that allows criminal defendants to avoid prosecution if they are either called up for mandatory military service or if they voluntarily sign a contract to serve in the armed forces. Reports of ad hoc arrangements being made between defendants and prosecutors have circulated before, but the practice was not previously systematized or legally sanctioned. Rights activists and lawyers have warned the harsh pre-trial detainment process, as well as exaggerated charges, are being leveraged to pressure defendants into enlisting, as well as providing violent offenders facing lengthy sentences a faster route to return to society.

Sources: iStories, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Verstka Media 

Apple removed 50 virtual private network (VPN) apps from its App Store from July to September 2024, reportedly double the number it was asked to remove by Russia’s internet censor Roskomnadzor. This brings the total number of VPNs no longer accessible inside Russia on Apple devices to 98, making it the most restrictive App Store outside China. The removals are part of a long-term effort by Roskomnadzor to control the online information environment and prevent access to material critical of or unfavourable to the government. 

Sources: El Pais, Moscow Times, Roskomsvoboda

An analysis of changes in Russia’s primary and secondary school curricula found that the number of classroom hours dedicated to propaganda grew from less than 500 in 2022 to over 1,300 in 2024. The investigative media outlet Agentstvo’s mapping of Russian school curriculum found that 12 per cent of classroom instruction hours are now to be dedicated to military training, lessons on the invasion of Ukraine, the “preservation of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values” and the importance of large families. The changes are the latest and most significant in the efforts to reshape the Russian education system to break both institutional and intellectual ties with the West and instead focus on nationalist narratives. 

Sources: Agenstvo Media, BBC Russian, Washington Post

On 9 August, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), blocked the encrypted messaging app Signal inside the country, saying it violated Russian legislation against terrorism and extremism. The state also progressively “throttled” YouTube in August – not legally banning or blocking the site but limiting the site’s internet bandwidth and making it impossible to use. YouTube was the last remaining significant Western social network or platform available in the country. While both services can still be accessed in some capacity using virtual private networks (VPNs) or technical workarounds, the blocks mark the end of their status as online cultural phenomena that were not under the direct control of or closely surveilled by the Russian state.

Sources: Meduza, Reuters, CEPA

UPDATE: YouTube access was suddenly restored on 15 November. The circumstances of and reason for the reversal remain unclear. Russian ministries have insisted for months that problems with YouTube were the result of inferior Google infrastructure in the country. 

Sources: Meduza (1), Meduza (2), Reuters, CEPA,

Russia’s State Duma approved on 23 July legislation that would expand the criteria of “undesirable organization” to include any Russian entity that was founded by or in any way funded by a foreign government. The punishment for working for, providing funding to, or otherwise cooperating with an “undesirable organization” includes fines and criminal charges including four years in jail. The expansion would mean anyone with a history of participation with overseas cultural exchanges or study programs or foreign-funded media like BBC Russia could be held criminally liable. The move is part of a recent trend of progressively expanding the scope and liability of repressive legislation; in July the Duma also made vaguely-defined “drug propaganda” a felony, rather than a misdemeanour, offense. The bill will become law after passing through the upper chamber of parliament and being signed by President Vladimir Putin.

Sources: Meduza, Voice of America

Five armed militants attacked a church, synagogue and security forces in Derbent and Makhachkala, Dagestan, killing seventeen police officers and five civilians before police killed the attackers. Derbent’s only synagogue, founded in 1914, was burned to the ground by attackers. The victims included Father Nikolay Kotelnikov, the city’s only Orthodox priest. Simultaneous but less destructive attacks on a synagogue and Orthodox church occurred in Makhachkala. The attack is the second major terror attack in Russia in several months and marks the return of such attacks to the North Caucasus after nearly a decade of relative calm. While no group has claimed responsibility, regional authorities blamed “international terrorist organizations”, and local religious authorities banned the wearing of the niqab in response on 3 July. Dagestan was also the site of an antisemitic pogrom in October 2023 that surprised analysts due to the historical lack of similar attacks in the region.

Sources: Caucasian Knot (1), Caucasian Knot (2), International IDEA, Politico

Restrictions on civil liberties and harsher punishments for a wide variety of real and fictive infractions are growing in both scope and scale as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its third year. The list of 'terrorists and extremists' maintained by the state financial intelligence agency Rosfinmonitoring has been increasing by about 100 names every month and now includes more than 14,500 people and 550 organizations. Those on the list have heavily restricted access to all financial services, usually lose their jobs, and have their freedom of speech further legally restricted. On 6 May, the Duma passed a law that bars those on the separate “foreign agents” registry from running for any political office. Investigative journalists also found that compulsory psychiatric treatment as a punishment in political cases has increased by 500 per cent since the full-scale invasion began.

Sources: Meduza, The Moscow Times, Agentstvo

Gender-based and domestic violence have become more prevalent since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and cases involving veterans have almost doubled since February 2022. Fifty-nine misdemeanour and 33 felony domestic violence cases were charged in 2020-2021, and 104 and 64 were charged in 2022-2023, respectively. The Rights advocates say official figures are undercounts as cases are rarely reported or investigated in Russia. Felony battery cases have also risen significantly, from 3,750 in 2019 to 13,241 in 2023.  Judges usually assign the weakest punishment allowed by law (a fine of RUB 5,000 RUB, or USD 55), and veteran status is frequently cited as a mitigating factor for punishment.

Rights group Coming Out’s annual survey report on the state of LGBTQIA+ rights in Russia similarly found that repression of the community increased significantly from 2022 to 2023. Forty-four per cent of respondents reported experiencing violence or pressure in 2023, up from 30 per cent in 2022. Reports of threats and violence also increased year-on-year, and the percentage of hate crime victims who reported them to police fell to 14 from 20 per cent.

Sources: Verstka Media Coming Out, BBC Russian

Russia held presidential elections from 15 to 17 March in which President Vladimir Putin secured a fifth term in office against no meaningful opposition. According to the Central Election Commission, Putin secured 87.3 per cent of the vote on 77.44 per cent turnout, up from 77.5 per cent on 67.5 per cent turnout in 2018. There were no women on the ballot and no credible election observers. Boris Nadezhdin, the sole presidential hopeful to oppose Russia’s war on Ukraine, was not permitted to run. Elections were also held in occupied Ukraine, which was condemned by Ukraine, United Nations officials, other world leaders and International IDEA. No women were among the candidates. 

Sources: Kommersant, Moscow Times, United Nations, International IDEA (1), International IDEA (2) 

Russian authorities have responded to the Crocus City Hall attack, where 145 people were killed in the worst terror attack in the country in a decade, with a wave of indiscriminate arrests, deportations, and harassment of Central Asian migrants. Police arrested and charged four Tajik nationals with carrying out the attack, and in an unusual move in Russia, released a video of police graphically torturing the men during interrogation on social media. Activists and Russian media have reported on hundreds of swift deportations and thousands of raids on work site and dormitories for Central Asian migrants throughout the country. Roughly four million Central Asian migrants live in Russia. Tajikistan’s state migration agency reported a “surge” of citizens returning to the country to escape persecution, and media reports of Central Asians in Russia hiding in their homes to escape potential violence, arrest or deportation.

Sources; Verstka Media, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, New York Times, Politico

Alexei Navalny, political prisoner and Russia’s highest profile and most effective political opponent of President Vladimir Putin, died on 16 February in a maximum security prison in the Russian Arctic. He was 47 years old and serving essentially a life sentence on numerous fabricated charges. The causes of Navalny’s death remain unclear, with Russian authorities maintaining he died of ‘natural causes’, but he had previously been hospitalized for malnourishment and former inmates at the same prison colony told Holod Media of systemic torture and an absence of basic medical care. Navalny’s family blamed Russian president Vladimir Putin for his death, as did numerous Western countries and international institutions, directly and indirectly.

Sources: Novaya Gazeta, Meduza, Holod Media

Independent Russian media outlets, Meduza and Mediazona, reported that local police around Russia have raided and shut down private parties, LGBTQIA+ bars and clubs, and private BDSM events to enforce the Russian Supreme Court’s ban of the “International LGBT Movement”, an organization that does not exist, on grounds of “extremism.” The reports confirm fears that the Court’s ruling would be used not just to shut down public LGBTQIA+ activism, but as a license to harass and remove LGBTQIA+ people from public life. Incidents have been reported from major cities like St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, as well as in the provincial city of Krasnoyarsk and a town in Karelia.

Sources: Mediazona, Meduza (1), Meduza (2), International IDEA