Russia Labels International Federation for Human Rights as “Undesirable Organization”

Russia's Ministry of Justice has officially labeled the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) as an “undesirable organization,” according to Current Time, the Russian-language independent news network produced by Radio Free Europe, on November 2.

The decision, made by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office in November, was not publicly disclosed until recently. This move effectively criminalizes the activities of two branches of the “Memorial” organization—the Anti-Discrimination Center and the Human Rights Defense Center, both of which are part of FIDH.

Being classified as undesirable bans the organization from operating within Russia and exposes anyone working with it to potential criminal prosecution.

Founded in 1922, FIDH unites 196 human rights organizations across 116 countries. The Federation has played a key role in advocating for the creation of the International Criminal Court in The Hague and supporting the development of a global legal framework to prosecute war crimes.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, FIDH has appealed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Russian propagandists, such as Vladimir Solovyov and Margarita Simonyan, for inciting hatred.

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In June 2024, FIDH, alongside the Kharkiv Human Rights Group and the Center for Civil Liberties, submitted a formal request to the ICC prosecutor's office for arrest warrants for six propagandists.

Earlier, it was reported that Russia's security and legal authorities have started cracking down on some of its pro-war military bloggers, with several prominent "Z-bloggers" being labeled as foreign agents, extremists, or detained for criticizing high-ranking officials.

Recently, Roman Alyokhin, with approximately 151,000 Telegram subscribers, was designated as a "foreign agent" by the government, while Tatyana Montyan, whose channel boasts around 400,000 followers, became the first Z-blogger to officially be labeled a terrorist.

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