You were reported: what to do depending on who reported you and where

• Who reported you matters. A First Department lawyer (the group is a 'foreign agent' in Russia) says a neighbour's report may be passed around for a long time and get routine refusals, while an activist close to the security services can get a case opened quickly. Most people learn of the check only when a case is opened, sometimes six months later. By law an anonymous report cannot start a criminal case, but it is still forwarded.
• Colleagues, pupils, students. Courts treat talk in an office, smoking area or classroom with others present as public, and lessons get recorded. According to OVD-Info ('extremist' in Russia), 51 of 148 cases of pressure on anti-war teachers began with a denunciation, most often by pupils or their parents. Sometimes parents complain to the head, who tells the FSB. Dismissal and expulsion: see the memo 'Reported by colleagues or students'.
• Neighbours, relatives, ex-partners. Denunciations often grow out of domestic conflicts over land, noise, a flat or children. Keep evidence of the conflict and of threats to report you: messages, witnesses, documents. They can show a motive. The right not to testify against close family covers a spouse, parents, children, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren, not a live-in partner or a former spouse. Talk at home in front of a non-relative has been ruled public.
• Strangers online and pro-government activists. According to a count cited by Novaya Gazeta Europe ('undesirable' in Russia), in under 16 months from early 2024 activists published at least 350 denunciations, followed by at least 30 criminal cases. Human rights defenders advise not engaging, closing profiles, hiding your phone number and address, deleting geotagged photos. Record threats; a police report under art. 119 or 137 leaves a trace. Decide with a lawyer whether to file it.
• In pre-trial detention or prison. New cases are built on talks with cellmates: people are placed with a prisoner, the talk is recorded, then sent for 'expert analysis'. A former municipal councillor got 3 more years this way for 'justifying terrorism'. Lawyers advise discussing nothing but the weather with people you barely know and being wary of anyone raising the war, politics or your case. The law keeps secret who informs.
• Taxis, cafes, trains, shops, hospitals. Police are often called on the spot. Courts treat talk that strangers can hear as public; once even a private video call, recorded by the other person, was ruled public. A Moscow paediatrician got 5.5 years after a patient's mother went to the police. Do not discuss the war with people you barely know; others can see your phone screen. If police arrive, you may decline to explain yourself (art. 51 of the Constitution).
• When to think about leaving. Warning signs, according to lawyers: you or your family are invited for a 'chat', pro-government channels write about you, your employer or university gets letters, harassment moves offline. If the report concerns a serious offence, a First Department lawyer suggests considering leaving for at least a month during the check; this is no sure protection. Get a passport for foreign travel early: after a case is opened you may be refused one.

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: First Department: 'I know someone reported me. What next?' (in Russian) (foreign agent); First Department: how private conversations became 'public discrediting' (in Russian) (foreign agent); First Department: 'I think a criminal case is being prepared against me' (in Russian) (foreign agent); OVD-Info: report on the persecution of anti-war teachers (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); OVD-Info: summoned by the police or Investigative Committee, a search (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); OVD-Info: three years of anti-war repression (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); OVD-Info: 'discrediting' or 'fake', how to protect yourself (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); Meduza: pro-government activists and online harassment, what to do (in Russian) (foreign agent, undesirable); Novaya Gazeta Europe: Z-activists filed at least 350 public reports since 2024 (in Russian) (undesirable); Verstka: 'Discrediting everywhere', 848 cases over spoken words (in Russian) (foreign agent); Verstka: fined for words in a private WhatsApp call after the other person reported him (in Russian) (foreign agent); Mediazona: cases over talks with cellmates follow one pattern (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist materials in Belarus); The Insider: new cases against people already in prison (in Russian) (foreign agent, undesirable); Current Time: 3 years over a conversation with prisoners in a hospital ward (in Russian) (foreign agent, undesirable, extremist materials in Belarus); Meduza: a paediatrician sentenced after a patient's mother reported her (in Russian) (foreign agent, undesirable); Radio Liberty: a student jailed for 10 days over a Wi-Fi network name (in Russian) (foreign agent, undesirable); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 5: who counts as a close relative (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 141: crime report (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 144: checking a crime report (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Law 59-FZ on citizens' appeals, art. 11: anonymous appeals (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Law on Operational Search Activity, art. 12: informants' identities are a state secret (ConsultantPlus, in Russian)