Human Rights House Foundation statement
HRC63 – Item 4 – Interactive Dialogue – Russia Special Rapporteur
21 September 2026
Background documents:
- Special Rapporteur’s annual report
- Joint NGO letter
- SOVA Centre Update
- OVD-Info has been designated an extremist organisation. What does this mean for us, for you, and for people in Russia?
Check against delivery.
Thank you, Vice-President.
We welcome the Special Rapporteur’s focus on transnational repression.
Repression by the Russian authorities increasingly does not stop at Russia’s borders. The same laws used to silence civil society at home are being extended to punish those forced into exile. The report rightly documents how Russian authorities enable transnational repression by other States, including through detention, forced return and abduction.
Recent legislation allows authorities to target human rights defenders abroad through in absentia proceedings, restrictions on property and banking, and denial of essential consular services, including passports and notarial services. Such measures risk leaving Russian citizens abroad without valid documentation and effectively trapped in legal limbo.
This comes alongside the escalating criminalisation of those documenting repression. Memorial-affiliated civil society organisations and OVD-Info have been recently designated “extremist”, making cooperation with or support for their legitimate human rights work potentially criminal. The designation has already forced OVD-Info to end cooperation with lawyers inside Russia and end providing humanitarian aid to political prisoners.
Vice-President.
We ask the Special Rapporteur: what should States do to prevent Russia’s repression from following its critics into exile, including through restrictions on their documents, property and finances?
Thank you.
