Prosecuted for what you said online

• Main offences: 'discrediting the army' (20.3.3 CAO; a repeat within a year becomes criminal art. 280.3), army 'fakes' (207.3 CC), 'extremist symbols' (20.3 CAO), 'justifying terrorism' (205.2 CC).
• 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.
• 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.
• Where to turn: Network Freedoms (@nfp_hotline), First Department, OVD-Info (bot). RosShtraf helps pay fines in anti-war cases.

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 25 September 2026. More: OVD-Info: 'discrediting' and 'fakes' (extremist); First Department: punishment for old posts (foreign agent)