Russia’s Justice Ministry has added an entity described as the “International Public Movement ‘In Defense of Voters’ Rights Golos’” to the registry of “undesirable” organizations. According to the ministry’s website, the Prosecutor General’s Office assigned it that status on June 30, 2026.
Stanislav Andreychuk, a former co-chair of the Golos movement, said no international Golos had ever actually existed. According to him, there had only been a nationwide movement defending voters’ rights under that name, and it ceased operations a year ago.
“I personally do not understand what this [international] movement is. None of my former colleagues whom I managed to speak to created anything like this or planned to. There is nothing like it in the public sphere either,” Andreychuk wrote.
He also suggested that, during the election period, the authorities may have deliberately created a vague designation that could later be used to classify as part of such a movement anyone whose actions or position they dislike during voting days or immediately afterward.
The nationwide Golos public movement for the defense of voters’ rights had operated for 25 years. It announced the end of its work in July 2025 after the sentencing of co-chair Grigory Melkonyants, who received five years in a penal colony on charges of organizing the work of the “undesirable” international election observers’ movement ENEMO.
At the same time, the authorities added several other organizations to the list: the Arctic Center at the University of Northern Iowa, the Swiss Academic Society for East European Studies, the U.S.-based Child Evangelism Fellowship, and the Karelian Educational Society. A country of location is listed for all of them in the registry, while no such information is given for the “international” Golos.