The report, “Nowhere to Hide: Exporting the ‘Rule of Fear’ Beyond the Country’s Borders — Transnational Repression by the Russian Federation”, was presented on September 21 and is based on nearly 400 documented cases of persecution of Russians and other people whom the Kremlin considers unwelcome outside the country. The report says that before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, an average of 29 such cases were recorded per year, and after it the annual average rose to 89.
Katsarova argues that Russia has built a state system of surveillance, intimidation, and punishment of critics of the regime who left the country, as well as pressure on their families remaining in Russia. In her assessment, since the start of the full-scale war, Russia has become one of the countries most actively persecuting its citizens abroad, and among the forms of such actions she names killings, assassination attempts, attacks, and poisonings.
The report says that at least nine FSB units, military and foreign intelligence, prosecutor’s offices, and federal ministries are involved in transnational repression. Katsarova also writes that Russia more often uses Interpol red notices to search for people abroad, but about half of such requests in 2024 were canceled by the organization’s central office.
The UN expert notes that Moscow uses mechanisms of international cooperation with its closest partners, and Kazakhstan, according to her, continues to carry out legal assistance agreements with the Russian Federation. In countries that carefully scrutinize requests from Moscow, such repression, as the report shows, does not work, and in terms of the number of direct physical attacks on critics, Russia ranks third among all countries.
The report separately states that accountability for such actions is virtually nonexistent. According to Katsarova, the Russian authorities deny any involvement in such incidents while simultaneously rewarding the alleged perpetrators of the crimes committed.
Sources
