Russian authorities ask Supreme Court to ban non-existent ‘Anti-Russian Separatist Movement’ as ‘extremist organization’
Russia’s Justice Ministry has filed a lawsuit with the country’s Supreme Court requesting that it designate the “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement and its subdivisions” as an “extremist organization” and ban it on Russian territory.
Who or what constitutes the “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement” is unclear. It appears never to have been previously mentioned in media reports, and the human rights and legal aid group OVD-Info said that it was unable to find any record of such an organization.
According to the Justice Ministry’s announcement of the lawsuit, the entity in question is an “international movement dedicated to the destruction of Russia’s multinational unity and territorial integrity.” The Supreme Court is set to hear the suit on June 7.
This isn’t the first time the Russian authorities have sought the ban of a movement with no formal structure and no official members. In November 2023, the Russian Supreme Court outlawed the “international LGBT movement” as an “extremism organization,” despite there being no such group registered in Russia. The ruling had a chilling effect on Russia’s already-vulnerable LGBTQ+ community and has been used as the basis for felony charges against at least one gay bar.
In late December 2023, authorities in three Russian regions created new headquarters for the prevention of “separatism, nationalism, extremism, mass riots, and crimes of an extremist nature.”
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