Drugs planted on you

• First: touch nothing, especially the packet, keep your hands in view and don't shake anyone's hand, not even someone you know. Say only: 'I will not speak until my lawyer arrives' (art. 51 of the Constitution) and demand a lawyer. This is what lawyers advise in Advokatskaya Gazeta and on Pravo.ru.
• How it happens. A packet is 'found' during a personal search on the street, a car search or a home search. A personal search is done by an officer of your sex with two attesting witnesses of the same sex; the law allows video instead of witnesses only for searches of belongings and cars (arts 27.7, 27.9 CAO). A search or personal search in a criminal case needs at least two attesting witnesses (arts 170, 184 CPC). Insist on witnesses who do not work for the police.
• During a home search OVD-Info advises insisting that rooms are searched one at a time, with you and the witnesses present. This does not fully protect against planting. Film the detention only if it is safe and won't lead to force being used: your phone may be taken and looked through, so lock it with a long passcode in advance (Pravo.ru). Filming a search in a criminal case is allowed only with the investigator's permission (First Department).
• Traces. Demand swabs from your hands, clippings of your nails and hair, and, if the officer who searched you is there, swabs from his hands too. Ask for the packet to be examined for fingerprints and sweat traces (Pravo.ru, Advokatskaya Gazeta). Ask for every request, and every refusal, to be written into the record.
• Demand to be sent for a medical examination as soon as possible, preferably at a drug clinic rather than an on-the-spot rapid test. An adult can also be examined at their own written request; the report is then made in two copies (Health Ministry order 933n, paras 5 and 23). When Ivan Golunov was released, one of the reasons given was that no drugs were found in his body.
• Read the record in full and strike through blank spaces. Write only your objections: 'the drugs were planted', 'they were not seized straight away', and what rules were broken (Advokatskaya Gazeta). If you disagree with the record you may refuse to sign it: the refusal is noted and you get a copy on request (arts 27.7, 27.9 CAO, art. 182 CPC). Give no explanation about what was 'found' before talking to a lawyer (OVD-Info).
• Why it is dangerous. Under art. 228 of the Criminal Code, possession of a 'significant' amount carries up to 3 years, a 'large' amount 3 to 10 years, an 'especially large' amount 10 to 15 years. If supply is alleged (art. 228.1), terms run from 4 to 20 years, up to life. The thresholds are set by the government and for many substances are a matter of grams. Drugs seized during detention or a search do not count as voluntary surrender and give no exemption (note 1 to art. 228).
• The odds, honestly. In 2024 courts acquitted 0.26% of defendants, and art. 228 appeared in every tenth verdict (Judicial Department data reported by Kommersant). That is why traces, tests and objections in the record gathered in the first hours matter so much. No one can promise an outcome.
• Next steps, with a lawyer. When an expert examination is ordered you may read the order, ask for a different expert and add your own questions (art. 198 CPC). Complain about the investigator or police to the prosecutor, who must reply within 3 days (art. 124 CPC), and to the district court (art. 125 CPC). Planting can be a crime by the officers: falsifying evidence (art. 303) and abuse of authority (art. 286). Decide with your lawyer whether to file such a complaint.
• A known case: journalist Ivan Golunov was detained on 6 June 2019 and released on 11 June with the prosecution dropped, after forensic tests and a huge public campaign. In 2021 five former police officers were convicted; Igor Lyakhovets got 12 years (11.5 on appeal). This is the exception, not the rule. Where to turn: First Department, Prison Lawyer, OVD-Info (bot). OVD-Info is designated 'extremist' in Russia; contact it from a device you will not have to hand over if detained.

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 26 September 2026. More: Advokatskaya Gazeta: if drugs are planted on you (in Russian); Pravo.ru: what to do if drugs are planted on you (in Russian); OVD-Info: my home is being searched (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); OVD-Info: the ideal detainee's guide (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); First Department: what to do during a search (in Russian) (foreign agent); Code of Administrative Offences, art. 27.7: personal search (in Russian); Code of Administrative Offences, art. 27.9: vehicle search (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 170: attesting witnesses (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 182: search (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 184: personal search (in Russian); Health Ministry order 933n: examination at your own request, para 5 (in Russian); Health Ministry order 933n: report in two copies, para 23 (in Russian); Criminal Code, art. 228 (in Russian); Criminal Code, art. 228.1: supply (in Russian); Supreme Court plenum ruling No. 14 of 15.06.2006, para 19 (in Russian); Criminal Code, art. 303: falsifying evidence (in Russian); Criminal Code, art. 286: abuse of authority (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 198: rights when an expert examination is ordered (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 124: complaint to the prosecutor (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 125: complaint to a court (in Russian); Kommersant: 0.26% of defendants acquitted in 2024 (in Russian); Kommersant: art. 228 in every tenth verdict (in Russian); Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Golunov released, prosecution dropped (in Russian); Vedomosti: former police officers sentenced in the Golunov case (in Russian); Interfax: appeal ruling in the Golunov case (in Russian)