Officers ask your relatives to sign something: what it is and what to do

• First find out what the paper is. Ask for the officer's name, position and agency. Police must state their position, rank and surname and show ID on request (art. 5, Law on Police). Ask whether it is an explanation, questioning, inspection, search or warning: that decides whether a signature is required. A 'chat', an 'interview' and an 'explanation' are not mandatory by law (OVD-Info).
• A record of questioning or a search. A signature confirms the record is accurate. You can refuse to sign and this is noted (art. 167 CCP), but rights groups more often advise signing with remarks. Read everything, demand corrections, write remarks on separate sheets, cross out blank spaces, take a copy. Don't sign consent to be notified by text message.
• One line for the record. Kompas wording, agree it with a lawyer: 'I refuse to testify against my son (daughter, husband) under art. 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.' In Belarus: '...under art. 27 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.' Refuse question by question rather than 'all questions': First Department warns the latter risks a case for refusing to testify.
• Consent to inspect the flat. A home may be inspected only with the residents' consent or a court decision (arts. 12, 177 CCP). Without a court decision you don't have to sign consent. An operational 'survey' also needs consent (OVD-Info). A search under a court decision or an urgent order cannot be stopped. In Belarus a prosecutor, not a court, authorises it (arts. 204, 210 CCP).
• Non-disclosure and warnings. After a non-disclosure undertaking relatives must not pass on case data, including to you (art. 310 Criminal Code; Belarus art. 407). Rights groups disagree on whether it can be refused, but refusing does not protect from liability. A warning counts as issued even without a signature. Keep your copy: it can be appealed, to a court within three months (OVD-Info).
• Summonses, videos, property, 'cooperation'. Relatives can be handed a summons to questioning for you, but not a military summons. No law obliges them to write letters, record videos, hand over keys or sign 'consent to cooperate'. Property is frozen by court decision with a record (art. 115 CCP). First Department says refusing recruitment has no legal consequences.
• Recording and lawyers. The law does not ban audio-recording questioning, but filming in a police building or during a search needs permission (First Department). You can ask for an official recording (art. 189 CCP). A witness may bring a lawyer. Officers need not wait for a lawyer during a search, so call one before opening the door.

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: Law on Police, art. 5(4): officers must state position and surname and show ID on request (in Russian); Russian CCP, art. 167: refusing to sign a record (in Russian); Russian CCP, art. 12: a home may be inspected only with residents' consent or a court decision (in Russian); Russian CCP, art. 177(5): inspecting a home without consent only via court (in Russian); Russian CCP, art. 161: non-disclosure of investigation data and exceptions (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Russian Criminal Code, art. 310: disclosure of investigation data (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Russian CCP, art. 115: freezing property by court decision, with a record (in Russian); Russian CCP, art. 189: questioning, a witness's lawyer, recording at the witness's request (in Russian); OVD-Info: a lawyer's advice for relatives of persecuted people (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); OVD-Info: questioning, interviews and 'chats' (remarks on the record, summons via family; in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); OVD-Info: summoned after a protest (clause consenting to text-message notification; in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); OVD-Info: there is a search at my home (operational 'survey' only with consent; in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); OVD-Info: prevention measures, official warnings, preventive register (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); First Department: guide for activists' relatives (in Russian) (foreign agent); First Department: how to behave at questioning (non-disclosure, recording, photographing the record; in Russian) (foreign agent); First Department: what an official warning is and what happens if you don't sign it (27 Aug 2026, in Russian) (foreign agent); First Department: how officers recruit informants (28 Apr 2026, in Russian) (foreign agent); Novaya Gazeta Europe: relatives cannot sign for a military summons (26 Sep 2024, in Russian) (undesirable); Belarus Code of Criminal Procedure: arts. 60, 173, 194, 198, 204, 210, 216, 218 (pravo.by, in Russian); Belarus Criminal Code: arts. 401, 407 (pravo.by, in Russian); Constitution of Belarus, art. 27 (pravo.by, in Russian); Nasha Niva: Viasna lawyer on questioning and searches of parents in the EHU case (4 Jun 2026, in Russian) (extremist in Belarus)