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Russian Federation

https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/

May 2025

‘Illegal’ migrant registry includes the names of one in nine migrants

A government-run registry of migrants deemed to be living illegally in Russia, launched in February, had grown to include at least 685,000 names by March, as reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation in May. This is equivalent to one in nine foreign citizens in the country. Both the size of the registry and reports from migrants and rights organizations indicate many individuals are included by mistake or without cause, and appeals are lengthy, costly, and uncertain to succeed. Those whose names appear in the register are barred from legally changing their residence, leaving the region in which they live, buying or owning property, opening a bank account, or withdrawing more than RUB 30,000 a month (USD 379).

Sources: British Broadcasting Corporation Russian, Kommersant, Meduza

Police raid publishing house over LGBTQIA+ literature

Moscow police arrested 10 and charged 3 employees of the Eksmo, the country’s largest publishing house, with violating anti-extremism laws as part of an investigation into publishing ‘LGBT propaganda’. The case marks a new and significantly broader interpretation of anti-extremism laws as including ‘using one’s official position.’ Prosecutors claim that by publishing books with LGBTQIA+ themes, Eksmo involved readers in the activities of what it calls ‘the International LGBT Social Movement’. Those charged face up to 12 years in prison. The basis for the charges is a list of books including LGBTQIA+ themes primarily published not by Eksmo, but by Popcorn Books, a publishing house which Eksmo acquired in 2023. Eksmo attempted unsuccessfully to avoid prosecution by instructing booksellers to destroy or return all copies of the books in question on 13 May.

Sources: Meduza, OVD Info, The Insider 

March 2025

Explicit ethnic discrimination becomes increasingly visible

An examination of public and private tenders for services and contractors by the Sistema investigative journalism project found that conditions specifying the ethnicity of the contractor to be increasingly common. Entities including the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, regional administrations, and private shopping centers across the country included specifications requiring all contractors to be of “Slavic appearance” or limiting employment only to “Slavic nationalities.” Contracts for security personnel in the private and public sector also included explicit instructions to more closely inspect individuals who appeared to be of “Caucasian or Asian nationality.” Russian rights expert Stefania Kulaeva agreed that despite being contrary to Russian discrimination legislation, such provisions are increasingly the norm in Russia.   

Sources: Current Time, Kommersant 

January 2025

Navalny's lawyers sentenced to prison

A court in Vladimir region sentenced the late Alexey Navalny’s three lawyers to between 3.5 and 5.5 years in a prison colony on 17 January in a closed-door trial. Although none of their conduct was, before this trial, considered outside the bounds of routine legal procedure, Vadim Kobzev, Alexey Lipster and Igor Sergunin were convicted of belonging to an “extremist organization” for passing letters and information between Navalny and his colleagues at the Anti-Corruption Foundation. This is the first time since the Soviet era that lawyers have been similarly punished.  The independence and security of the legal profession in Russia has deteriorated significantly since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and human rights group First Department found 174 cases of legal harassment of lawyers in 2023. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia called for their release and described their sentences as “part of an alarming pattern of targeted repression and State control.” 

Sources: Meduza, Reuters, United Nations 

Scope of mandatory DNA collection expanded

As of 1 January 2025, a legal amendment to the law ‘On state genomic registration’ means that anyone found guilty of an administrative (i.e. non-criminal) offense will be required to submit a DNA sample to a federal DNA database. The collection of genetic material has been mandated since 2009 for major violent crimes and was expanded to include prisoners and those accused of committing a felony in 2023. While some social groups such as people with disabilities, employees of the Interior Ministry, and pregnant women are exempted, there is no further option to refuse to comply. Human rights activists have long warned that the mass collection of DNA would foster the creation of a police state and, given the wide range of law enforcement officials with access to Russia’s database, create major risks for abuse of the data.  

Sources: Meduza,Novaya Gazeta Europe, Sistema Garant 

December 2024

Migrant children must pass language test to enroll in school

A new law signed by President Vladimir Putin on 28 December requires the children of migrants to pass a Russian-language proficiency test before enrolling in school. The law will take effect on 20 April 2025 and has been criticized by rights groups and academics as discriminatory and likely to impede the integration of the children of migrants into Russian society. Precise data on the number of children likely to be affected is unavailable, but a 2023 survey by the Ministry of Education found that about 178,000 children, or one in every hundred, in Russian schools lacked Russian citizenship. It is unclear what proportion of non-citizen (or ethnic minority citizen) children speak Russian competently. There are no free language classes for foreigners in Russia and advocates worry that affected children and their families will be further marginalized from society.

Sources:  TASS, Meduza, Kun.uz

Russia to add ‘extremists’ to terror watch list

The Russian State Duma amended 48 federal laws on 12 December to broaden the punitive measures previously reserved for those convicted or accused of terrorism-related offenses to be available in cases of “extremism” as well. The definition of “extremist activities” is broad and has in recent years been used to describe the work of a wide variety of media outlets, all anti-government and opposition political activity, and posts by private individuals on social media interpreted as criticizing Russia’s war on Ukraine. Official suspicion of any such offense is grounds for adding an individual to a state terror watch list, which results in the freezing of their and their dependents’ bank accounts and is typically accompanied by unemployment and social ostracization.

Sources: Meduza, Novaya Gazeta, Kommersant

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Global ranking per category of democratic performance in 2024

Chevron
Representation
137/173
Rights
143/173
Rule of Law
141/173
Participation
160/173

Basic Information

Chevron
Population Tooltip
143 826 130
System of government
Semi-Presidential system
Head of government
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (since 2020)
Head of government party
Independent
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
Parallel
Women in lower or single chamber
16.4%
Women in upper chamber
18.5%
Last legislative election
2021
Effective number of political parties Tooltip
3.39
Head of state
President Vladimir Putin
Selection process for head of state
Direct election (two-round majority)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
13/11/2023
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
46.39%
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Human Rights Treaties

Chevron
State Party State party
Signatory Signatory
No Action No action
United Nations Human Right Treaties
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
State Party
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
State Party
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
State Party
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
State Party
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
State Party
Convention on the Rights of the Child
State Party
International Convention on Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
No Action
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 
No Action
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
State Party
International Labour Organisation Treaties
Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention
State Party
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
State Party
Equal Remuneration Convention
State Party
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
State Party
Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
State Party
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
State Party
in
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Performance by category over the last 6 months

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Representation neutral Rule of law
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Representation neutral Participation
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Global State of Democracy Indices

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Explore the indices
Representation
Representation
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/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rights
Rights
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high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rule of Law
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high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Participation
Participation
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high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4

Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time

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