On April 9, Russia’s Supreme Court declared the “international Memorial movement” an extremist organization and banned its activities in the country. Formally, no such legal entity exists, yet the risk of criminal prosecution now extends to people connected with Memorial’s various structures.
The community, which emerged in the late 1980s, worked to preserve the memory of Soviet state terror and was involved in educational and human rights advocacy. In 2022, Memorial’s key organizations were liquidated by court order, while the project itself received the Nobel Peace Prize. Russia’s Justice Ministry has already said it identified 196 people allegedly active in the movement.
People who had continued working in different Russian Memorial groups spoke to journalists anonymously. One of them said she did not want to leave Russia and did not believe she should be the one forced into hiding. In her view, even imprisonment would not compare to the fate of Soviet-era victims, who were killed in secrecy and denied even the hope of being remembered.
“I have one privilege: I know Memorial exists, and that means there are people who would preserve the memory of me if anything happens,” one interviewee said.
Others described mixed feelings: on the one hand, the authorities’ move suggests that Memorial’s work is seen as a serious threat; on the other, the decision feels catastrophic, especially as Memorial websites and databases become inaccessible. One source summed up the mood by saying there were “zero emotions” left and that the only option now was to “lie low” and adapt the format of work to circumstances.
Another interviewee linked the latest events to the state’s broader effort to shut down discussion of the country’s difficult past. She referred both to pressure on Memorial projects and to the history of the Gulag Museum, first closed and later announced to be remade into a “Museum of Memory” devoted to the “genocide of the Soviet people.” She said that studying repression helps people understand the present more clearly, while solidarity and public support help keep despair at bay.