Prosecuted for what you said online

• Human rights groups usually advise making profiles private, not discussing the war with strangers, avoiding VK and Russian services for anything sensitive, and remembering art. 51 of the Constitution.
• Old posts are risky too: courts treat them as a 'continuing' offence and count the limitation period from when the post is found. Deleting a post already recorded won't help, but it lowers the risk of new cases.
• If a report is being drawn up: detention lasts up to 3 hours; ask for a linguistic expert review, note violations in the report, strike out blank lines and take copies.
• Main offences: 'discrediting the army' (art. 20.3.3 CAO; a repeat within a year becomes criminal, art. 280.3 CC), army 'fakes' (art. 207.3 CC), 'extremist symbols' (art. 20.3 CAO), 'justifying terrorism' (art. 205.2 CC).
• Where to turn: Network Freedoms (@nfp_hotline), First Department (foreign agent), OVD-Info (bot; 'extremist' in Russia, contact it from a device you will not have to hand over if detained). RosShtraf helps pay fines in anti-war cases.
• You can be punished for what was legal when you posted it. Once an organisation is designated 'extremist', 'terrorist' or 'undesirable', its logo, a repost or a link in an old post can bring a fine, and a repeat a criminal case. This happened with FBK and the 'LGBT movement'; since June 2026 OVD-Info is 'extremist' too. Human rights groups advise removing such posts early, before any case.
• A like rarely leads to a case, but it happens: people were fined for likes on Telegram, VKontakte and YouTube, and an Odnoklassniki 'like' counts as a repost. Paid Telegram reactions ('stars') count as money transfers and have led to prison terms. Since September 2025, searching for 'extremist materials' is fined 3,000 to 5,000 rubles; such searches were found in phone checks. A VPN itself is not an offence, but committing a crime through one is an aggravating factor (art. 63 CC).
• Private talk and chats are not a shield. People were fined for a video forwarded to local chats, a WhatsApp status, an argument on a train and shouting from a window; criminal cases followed a message in a building chat. It often starts with a denunciation by a neighbour, colleague or a follower of a closed account. Human rights groups advise treating large open-to-join chats as public.
• Money is riskier than words. A donation of any size to an 'extremist' organisation (FBK, OVD-Info) is punishable, one to an 'undesirable' one is criminal at once, one to a Ukrainian fund is treated as treason. Transfers are found via Rosfinmonitoring and phone checks at the border. If you left Russia with an unpaid 'discreditation' fine, an August 2026 law allows frozen money and blocked banking apps.
• The law restricting people who have left Russia is not only about 'discrediting the army': a fine under Article 20.33 for 'participation' in an 'undesirable' organisation, such as a repost, is also on the list of grounds. If the fine is unpaid, restrictions may follow on banking apps, property transactions, Gosuslugi and consular services.

Designations of organisations in this guide: OVD-Info (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.

current as of 7 October 2026. More: OVD-Info: 'discrediting' and 'fakes' (extremist); First Department: punishment for old posts (foreign agent); First Department: fines for old posts and the Constitutional Court (foreign agent); OVD-Info: what is and isn't allowed with 'undesirable' organisations (foreign agent, extremist); First Department: Telegram 'stars' (foreign agent); OVD-Info: the law on measures against people abroad (284-FZ) (foreign agent, extremist); Code of Administrative Offences, Art. 20.33: participation in an 'undesirable' organisation (ConsultantPlus, in Russian)