The Congress of People’s Deputies, acting pursuant to its founding acts and its
Fundamental Declaration, guided by the principles and norms of international law, the provisions
of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva
Conventions, and other international legal instruments, as well as by Russian legislation and the
resolutions of a number of states and international organizations (1–28),
declares that the political regime that has usurped power in the Russian Federation is a
regime of state terror, directed against other states as well as against the citizens of its own
country, and that it poses a threat to international peace and security, human rights, and the
international legal order.

1. Russian Terror against Ukraine
For more than four years, Russia has been waging a full-scale war of aggression against
Ukraine, in flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
an independent state. This war, which began in February 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and
the occupation of parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and regions, escalated in 2022 into a full-scale
armed invasion, resulting in the occupation of a significant portion of Ukraine’s territory, the
widespread destruction of its cities, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and the
largest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War.
The Russian armed forces and other structures controlled by the regime systematically
commit acts bearing the hallmarks of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Russian forces
carry out systematic missile and aerial strikes on the territory of Ukraine, including residential
areas, hospitals, schools, and energy, water-supply and communications facilities, causing
numerous civilian casualties and widespread destruction of the country’s civilian infrastructure.
Mass killings and torture of civilians in Bucha, Irpin, Izium, Lyman and Mariupol have been
extensively documented and internationally recognized. Numerous cases of extrajudicial
executions, the forced deportation of the civilians, and their unlawful transfer to Russian territory
have also been documented. The Russian authorities have established a system of so-called
“filtration” measures and camps for the arbitrary detention of Ukrainian citizens, through which
thousands of people have passed. According to international organizations and the Ukrainian
authorities, tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been unlawfully transferred to the
territory of Russia and to territories of Ukraine under Russian occupation. These acts are the
subject of ongoing international investigations, including investigations conducted by the
International Criminal Court (29–36).
The Congress considers that the aforementioned actions of Russia are intended to destroy
Ukraine as a sovereign and independent state and to impose a new international order based on
force and the repudiation of the fundamental principles of peaceful coexistence among states.
The Congress expresses its unwavering support for the people of Ukraine and its solidarity with
the peoples of other countries, including Russian citizens who oppose war, dictatorship, and state
violence, and for whom freedom, democracy, human dignity and peace constitute fundamental
values.

2. Aggression by Russia against Other States
Against democratic states in Europe and other countries, Russia pursues a policy of so-called
“hybrid warfare” combining political pressure, propaganda, disinformation, interference in
internal affairs, cyberattacks, extraterritorial persecution, and targeted killings, with the aim of
destabilizing those states.
Russian state structures and organizations affiliated with them have repeatedly been
identified by the international community as being involved in murders, attempted murders,
sabotage, and other violent acts in democratic states worldwide. Among the most well-known
facts are the downing, in Ukrainian airspace in 2014, of a Malaysian passenger aircraft with 298
people; the poisoning murder of A. Litvinenko with a radioactive substance in the United
Kingdom in 2006; the killing of British citizen Dawn Sturgess with the Novichok military-grade
nerve agent in Salisbury in 2018; the murder of Z. Khangoshvili in Germany in 2019; and the
murder of A. Yandarbiyev in Qatar in 2004. In subsequent criminal proceedings against the
perpetrators of these acts, the Russian state has consistently protected them, which constitutes an
indication of state involvement. Furthermore, the radiological and chemical agents used in these
killings are classified as weapons of mass destruction, constituting an independent criminal
offense under international law.
For many years, Russia has supported and financed political regimes and armed formations
that employ terrorist methods. These include the former regime of B. al-Assad in Syria; the
Russian “Wagner Group,” whose activities have been documented in Syria, Libya, the Central
African Republic, Mali, Sudan, Mozambique and Ukraine; and the regime of A. Lukashenko in
Belarus, which provides Russia with military and logistical support in its war against Ukraine
and is implicated in the unlawful interception and diversion of a Ryanair civilian aircraft
(37–57).
Russia systematically violates the airspace of neighboring states, thereby creating threats to
their security and provoking military tension and conflicts. Additional challenges to international
security arise from the policy of so-called “nuclear blackmail” pursued by the Russian
leadership, as well as from a recently adopted Russian law permitting the use of armed forces to
“protect” Russian citizens abroad, which creates a direct threat of military interventions under
the pretext of protecting so-called “compatriots” that was already invoked as one of the grounds
for launching the war against Ukraine.

3. State Terror by Russia against its Own Citizens
The terrorist nature of the Russian regime is also manifested in its domestic policy, which has
taken shape since the 1990s. The destruction of Grozny and other settlements in the Chechen
Republic during the hostilities of 1994–2000, the establishment of “filtration camps,” enforced
people disappearances, mass extrajudicial executions, and the destruction of civilian
infrastructure were initiated by the federal authorities already at that time. The series of
apartment-buildings bombings in 1999 in Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk, which resulted in
the deaths of 307 Russian citizens, as well as the discovery in 1999 of bags of a substance,
presumed to be explosive, in the basement of an apartment building in Ryazan, remain
unresolved issues in Russian political history. Key figures who attempted to conduct independent
investigations into these events – State Duma deputies S. Yushenkov and Yu. Shchekochikhin,
and journalist A. Politkovskaya – died in violent or suspicious circumstances that have not been
effectively investigated and directly point to state involvement. In the same context, the
involvement of the Russian FSB and FSIN has been documented in the attempted poisonings of
politician V. Kara-Murza in 2015 and 2017 and A. Navalny in 2020, and his subsequent death in
prison in 2024. The political assassinations of B. Nemtsov in 2015, S. Markelov and A.
Baburova in 2009, N. Estemirova in 2009, S. Magnitsky in 2009, and B. Berezovsky in 2013, as
well as the deaths under suspicious circumstances of dozens of other opposition, independent
journalism, human rights and business figures, likewise remain uninvestigated (58–72).
By now, political assassinations, repression, censorship, an atmosphere of fear, and the
persecution of dissent have become an integral part of the Russian authorities’ domestic policy
aimed at maintaining control over society. Independent courts, free elections, independent media
and political competition have been effectively destroyed in the country. Legislation on
“terrorism,” “extremism” and “foreign agents” is used as an instrument for suppressing civil
liberties and conducting political repression. Journalists, human rights defenders and opposition
figures are being criminally prosecuted and imprisoned for an anti-war position, peaceful
protests, and criticism of the authorities. Citizens are subjected to imprisonment and forced
mobilization for the war against Ukraine under threat of criminal prosecution. Hundreds of
thousands of Russian citizens have already died in this war: responsibility for this lies entirely
with the military aggressor – the Russian Federation.

4. International Legal Assessment of Russia’s Actions
The Congress of People’s Deputies states that the aforementioned actions of the Russian
Federation, taken in their totality and interconnection, and in light of the relevant international
legal framework, including international treaties, resolutions and instruments to which Russia is
a party, as well as Russian legislation itself (73–127), provide a basis for their qualification as
acts of terrorism. The Russian Federation, under the current authorities, can further be qualified
as a state sponsor of terrorism that systematically uses terror as an instrument of its domestic and
foreign policy.
The Congress considers the current political regime of the Russian Federation to be a regime
of state terror, whose actions constitute offenses under Articles 205, 205.1, 205.2, 277, 353, 356
and 357 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as well as under the relevant provisions
of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and other applicable international
treaties. The Congress emphasizes that this qualification applies exclusively to the political
regime that has usurped power in the country and does not extend to Russian citizens, provided
that they do not directly participate in the commission, planning, financing or benefiting from
such activities.
The Congress aligns itself with the previously adopted resolutions of the European
Parliament (November 23, 2022), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(Resolution 2463), and the parliaments of the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the
Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Poland, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, the
Netherlands, the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America, the
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and other states and international assemblies recognizing the
Russian Federation as a terrorist state and sponsor of terrorism.

5. Appeal of the Congress to the International Community
The Congress of People’s Deputies calls on the international community to take all necessary
measures to stop Russia’s war against Ukraine and to counter Russia’s aggressive policy toward
other states. The justification or appeasement of Russian aggression only increases the risk of
further destabilization of global security and thFe outbreak of new wars.
We state that, following the start of Russian aggression against Ukraine, many decisions of
the international community, including the European Parliament Resolution of November 23,
2022, recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, remain largely declarative in nature due
to the absence of effective mechanisms for their implementation. Such lack of decisive
implementation is perceived by the Putin regime as a sign of weakness and as an encouragement
to further escalate its aggression against Ukraine and other countries.
We warn that the preservation of the Putin regime in its current form and the absence of a
firm international legal response create a direct threat of a new large-scale war in Europe: the
Russian economy has been placed on a war footing, and the ideology of the regime is oriented
toward further militaristic expansion.
We consider the policy of “freezing” the current war to be insufficient. The root cause of all
Russia’s wars over the centuries lies in the authoritarian nature of its system of governance,
which seeks to suppress other peoples and seize their territories, and which is expressed in the
imperial structure of the of the Russian state, in which its territorial subjects and indigenous
peoples are subordinated to the central authority in Moscow. We hold that only the military and
economic defeat of Russia, followed by the dismantling of its imperial essence, can alter this
historical trajectory.
We Call on the International Community:
— to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism that uses terrorist methods as an instrument
of domestic and foreign policy;
— to strengthen sanctions against Russia, its legal entities, and individuals involved in financing,
organizing, conducting and propagandizing the war against Ukraine;
— to increase international pressure aimed at limiting the capacity of the Russian regime to
continue the war against Ukraine;
— to expand military, financial, humanitarian, and political support for Ukraine to achieve its
military victory over the Russian aggressor;
— to establish effective international mechanisms for the investigation of Russian war crimes
and crimes against humanity and for their legal assessment;
— to confiscate the assets of the Russian Federation, as well as those of its legal entities and
individuals supporting this war, and to direct these funds toward support for Ukraine;
— to restrict Russia’s access to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)
mechanisms, in connection with its systematic abuse of such instruments for the persecution of
political opposition;
— to exclude Russia from the United Nations Security Council due to its systematic violation of
the Charter of the United Nations;
— to tighten visa restrictions for Russian officials, deputies, senators and representatives of
propaganda structures who use international platforms to legitimize the regime politically;
— to remove Russia from international sports, cultural and representative events that are used as
instruments of state propaganda and the “normalization” of war in the international space;
— to support Russian citizens who oppose the war and the Putin regime, including political
prisoners inside Russia and political emigrants fleeing repression and mobilization for the war
against Ukraine;
— to establish an effective dialogue with the Russian opposition that advocates an end to the war
and the democratization of Russia.
We Demand that the Russian Federation:
— fully withdraw its troops from the entire territory of Ukraine and restore Ukraine’s territorial
integrity within its internationally recognized 1991 borders;
— release all Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians, including the return of forcibly
transferred children;
— pay financial reparations to Ukraine for the damage caused by its military aggression;
— withdraw all Russian military personnel, formations and bases from the territories of
Armenia, Belarus, Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia), Moldova (Transnistria) and Tajikistan;
— end political repression within the country, release political prisoners, and annul sentences
issued in politically motivated cases;
— bring to criminal responsibility all those involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity,
including the removal from power and prosecution of President V. Putin, against whom the
International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant (128).
We Call on the Russian Opposition:
— to abandon illusions regarding the possibility of preserving the current imperial structure of
Russia or its modernization, as any slogans about a “Beautiful Russia of the Future” without
dismantling the imperial system of state organization are unrealistic;
— to recognize that the defeat of Russia in the war against Ukraine is an essential condition for
ending both internal and external state terror, the liberation of peoples, and reintegration of the
country into the international community.

6. On the Future of the Russian State
The Congress of People’s Deputies emphasizes that the future of Russia is impossible without
dismantling the authoritarian system of governance, the restoration of democratic institutions,
independent justice, free elections, freedom of expression, and respect for fundamental human
rights, as well as the formation of a state based on the equality of all its constituent entities,
including their voluntary participation in the Federation and the right to withdraw from it as
independent states. Only a democratic, peaceful and law-governed Russia will be able to become
part of the international community.

Chairman of the Council of the Congress of People’s Deputies

Ilya Ponomarev

References
1. Charter of the United Nations, entered into force on 24 October 1945.
2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 217 A
(III) of 10 December 1948.
3. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by UN General
Assembly Resolution 260 (III) of 9 December 1948.
4. Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12
August 1949.
5. Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of
victims of international armed conflicts, of 8 June 1977. See in particular Article 51 (protection of
the civilian population) and Article 52 (general protection of civilian objects).
6. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 17 July 1998. See Article 6 (genocide),
Article 7 (crimes against humanity), Article 8 (war crimes), and Article 8 bis (crime of
aggression).
7. International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism of 9 December 1999.
The Russian Federation ratified the Convention by Federal Law No. 88-FZ of 10 July 2002.
8. International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings of 15 December 1997.
Ratified by the Russian Federation by Federal Law No. 19-FZ of 13 February 2001.
9. European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism of 27 January 1977 (Strasbourg).
10. UN Security Council Resolution 1566 (2004) of 8 October 2004, para. 3: “criminal acts,
including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or
taking hostages, with the purpose of provoking a state of terror in the general public or in a group
of persons or particular persons, intimidating a population or compelling a government or
international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act <…> are under no circumstances
justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or
other similar nature.”
11. UN Security Council Resolution 2341 (2017) of 13 February 2017 on the protection of critical
infrastructure against terrorist attacks.
12. Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism, adopted by UN General Assembly
Resolution 49/60 of 9 December 1994.
13. Constitution of the Russian Federation, adopted by nationwide vote on 12 December 1993,
Article 15(4): “Universally recognized principles and norms of international law and international
treaties of the Russian Federation are an integral part of its legal system.”
14. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of 13 June 1996 No. 63-FZ, Article 205, “Terrorist
Act.”
15. Federal Law of 6 March 2006 No. 35-FZ “On Countering Terrorism,” Article 3(1): “terrorism is
the ideology of violence and the practice of influencing decisions by state authorities, local
self-government bodies or international organizations, associated with intimidating the population
and/or other forms of unlawful violent actions.”
16. European Parliament Resolution of 23 November 2022 on recognizing the Russian Federation as
a state sponsor of terrorism (P9_TA(2022)0405; 2022/2896(RSP)). Adopted by 494 votes in
favor, 58 against and 44 abstentions.
17. Resolution 2463 (2022) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, “Further
escalation in the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine,” of 13 October 2022. Adopted
almost unanimously (99 votes in favor, 1 abstention); the Assembly “declares the current Russian
regime as a terrorist one.”
18. Resolution of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania No. XIV-1063 of 10 May 2022,
recognizing the Russian Federation as a state supporting and carrying out terrorism and qualifying
its actions in Ukraine as genocide of the Ukrainian people.
19. Statement of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia “On the targeted genocide by Russians (sic)
against the Ukrainian people” of 11 August 2022, recognizing the Russian Federation as a “state
sponsor of terrorism.”
20. Statement of the Riigikogu of the Republic of Estonia of 18 October 2022 “On war crimes
committed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine,” declaring Russia a “terrorist regime” and the
Russian Federation a “state supporting terrorism.” Adopted by 88 votes in favor out of 101.
21. Resolution of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland of 14 December 2022 on recognizing the
Russian Federation as a state supporting terrorism (Uchwała Sejmu RP w sprawie uznania
Federacji Rosyjskiej za reżim terrorystyczny). See also the resolution of the Senate of the
Republic of Poland of 26 October 2022.
22. Resolution of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic of 15 March
2022 recognizing the current regime of the Russian Federation as terrorist.
23. Conclusions of the LXVIII plenary meeting of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for
Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC), Prague, 13–15 November 2022.
24. United States Senate Resolution S.Res.623 of 27 July 2022, calling on the U.S. Department of
State to designate the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
25. United States House of Representatives Resolution H.Res.1129 of 12 May 2022, with a similar
call.
26. Statements by the Parliaments and Senates of Canada (House of Commons motion of 27 April
2022), Ireland (Dáil Éireann, March 2022), the Netherlands (Tweede Kamer, October 2022) and a
number of other states recognizing the Russian Federation as a state using means of terror, or
recognizing its actions in Ukraine as acts of genocide.
27. Law of Ukraine of 14 April 2022 No. 2265-IX “On prohibiting propaganda of the Russian Nazi
totalitarian regime, the armed aggression of the Russian Federation as a terrorist state against
Ukraine, and the symbols of the military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Nazi totalitarian
regime” (originally Draft Law No. 7214 of 26 March 2022).
28. Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of 1 December 2022 No. 2787-IX “On the
Statement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on recognizing the ruling political regime in the
Russian Federation as terrorist, on the illegitimacy of the Russian Federation’s presence in the
United Nations and its reform, and on the responsibility of members of Russian political parties
that support aggression.”
29. Strike on the Drama Theater in Mariupol on 16 March 2022, which, according to various
estimates, killed up to 600 civilians sheltering in the building, on whose roof the word
“CHILDREN” had been laid out in large letters. See Amnesty International’s investigation
“‘Children’: the attack on the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre,” June 2022.
30. Strike by Russian Tochka-U missiles with cluster warheads on the railway station in Kramatorsk
on 8 April 2022, which killed more than 60 people, mostly women and children waiting for
evacuation trains.
31. Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, established by UN
Human Rights Council Resolution S-34/1 of 4 March 2022 (A/HRC/52/62 of 15 March 2023 and
subsequent reports), as well as materials of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine
(HRMMU). Mass killings of civilians in Bucha, Irpin and other settlements of Kyiv region in
March 2022 were documented as war crimes.
32. According to Ukrainian authorities and the National Information Bureau, as of 2024–2025 more
than 19,000 identified Ukrainian children had been unlawfully taken from temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine and border regions to Russia; the real scale of deportation, according to
international observers, is many times higher. These actions formed the basis for the ICC’s arrest
warrants for the President of Russia and the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
33. Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, established by UN
Human Rights Council Resolution S-34/1 of 4 March 2022 (A/HRC/52/62 of 15 March 2023 and
subsequent reports), as well as materials of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine
(HRMMU). Mass killings of civilians in Bucha, Irpin and other settlements of Kyiv region in
March 2022 were documented as war crimes.
34. Strike on the Drama Theater in Mariupol on 16 March 2022, which, according to various
estimates, killed up to 600 civilians sheltering in the building, on whose roof the word
“CHILDREN” had been laid out in large letters. See Amnesty International’s investigation
“‘Children’: the attack on the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre,” June 2022.
35. Strike by Russian Tochka-U missiles with cluster warheads on the railway station in Kramatorsk
on 8 April 2022, which killed more than 60 people, mostly women and children waiting for
evacuation trains.
36. According to Ukrainian authorities and the National Information Bureau, as of 2024–2025 more
than 19,000 identified Ukrainian children had been unlawfully taken from temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine and border regions to Russia; the real scale of deportation, according to
international observers, is many times higher. These actions formed the basis for the ICC’s arrest
warrants for the President of Russia and the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
37. The investigation by the ICC Prosecutor into the Situation in Ukraine (ICC-01/22) was opened on
2 March 2022. On 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II issued arrest warrants for V. V. Putin and
M. A. Lvova-Belova in connection with the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. On 5
March 2024, warrants were issued for S. I. Kobylash and V. N. Sokolov.
38. Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Carter v. Russia (application No. 20914/07)
of 21 September 2021. The Court found “beyond reasonable doubt” that the murder of A. V.
Litvinenko in London in November 2006 by poisoning with polonium-210 was carried out by A.
K. Lugovoy and D. V. Kovtun, acting “as agents of the Russian State.”
39. Report of the public inquiry chaired by Sir Robert Owen, “The Litvinenko Inquiry: Report into
the death of Alexander Litvinenko” (HC 695, London, 21 January 2016). Conclusion: the killing
was “probably approved” by FSB Director Patrushev and President Putin.
40. A. K. Lugovoy was elected as a deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian
Federation of the 5th convocation from the LDPR following the elections of 2 December 2007
and was re-elected to the Duma of the 6th, 7th and 8th convocations. On 26 March 2015, by
Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 161, he was awarded the Order “For Merit
to the Fatherland,” IV class.
41. Technical Secretariat of the OPCW, Summary of Report S/1612/2018 of 12 April 2018
(Salisbury) and Report S/1906/2020 of 6 October 2020 (A. A. Navalny) – officially confirming
the identification of the substances as Novichok-group military nerve agents prohibited by the
1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.
42. Attack using the Novichok (A-234) military nerve agent against S. V. Skripal and his daughter
Yulia in Salisbury (United Kingdom) on 4 March 2018. British law-enforcement authorities
established the involvement of officers of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed
Forces of the Russian Federation (GU GS, formerly GRU), in particular A. V. Mishkin (“Petrov”)
and A. E. Chepiga (“Boshirov”). See OPCW Report S/1612/2018 of 12 April 2018, which
confirmed the identification of the substance as a Novichok military nerve agent under the
Russian designation.
43. As a result of the use of Novichok in Salisbury, British citizen Dawn Sturgess died on 8 July 2018
from poisoning by the same substance, found in a bottle discarded by the attackers. The
corresponding public inquiry by Sir Anthony Hughes was completed in 2024.
44. Attack using the Novichok military nerve agent against A. A. Navalny in Tomsk on 20 August
2020. Identification of the substance as Novichok was confirmed by the OPCW (OPCW Report
CR-NAV/01/20, October 2020) and by independent laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden.
A joint investigation by Bellingcat, The Insider, CNN and Der Spiegel established the
involvement of the FSB “Criminalistics Institute” unit under S. V. Makhovikov. A. A. Navalny
died on 16 February 2024 in the “Polar Wolf” penal colony (IK-3) in Kharp, Yamalo-Nenets
Autonomous Okrug, under unclear circumstances.
45. Judgment of the Berlin Higher Regional Court (Kammergericht Berlin) of 15 December 2021 in
case 2 StE 4/20. V. N. Krasikov (also “Sokolov”), a career FSB officer, was found guilty of
murdering Z. Khangoshvili (a Georgian citizen of Chechen origin) on 23 August 2019 in Kleiner
Tiergarten Park in Berlin and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The court characterized the
murder as an “act of state terrorism” committed on behalf of the Russian state.
46. V. N. Krasikov was released from a German prison on 1 August 2024 as part of the largest
prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War. At Vnukovo airport, V. V. Putin personally
greeted Krasikov and embraced him. Earlier, in an interview with T. Carlson in February 2024, V.
V. Putin described the person convicted in Berlin as a “patriot” who had “liquidated a bandit in
one of the European capitals.”
47. Z. A. Yandarbiyev, former acting President of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria,
was killed on 13 February 2004 by a car bomb in Doha (Qatar). The two perpetrators convicted
by a Qatari court were serving officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of
the Russian Armed Forces (GRU).
48. D. M. Dudayev, the first President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, was killed on 21 April
1996 by an air-to-surface missile strike guided by the signal from his satellite phone.
49. Explosion at an ammunition depot in Vrbetice (Czech Republic) on 16 October 2014 – two Czech
citizens were killed. In April 2021, the Government of the Czech Republic officially established
the involvement of officers of GRU military unit 29155 (A. V. Mishkin, A. E. Chepiga and
others) and expelled 18 Russian diplomats declared persona non grata.
50. Forced landing of Ryanair flight FR4978 “Athens-Vilnius” in Minsk on 23 May 2021 for the
purpose of detaining journalist R. A. Protasevich. An investigation by the International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO Fact-Finding Investigation Report, July 2022) confirmed that the
seizure of the aircraft was carried out with operational support from Russian special services.
51. A. K. Lugovoy was elected as a deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian
Federation of the 5th convocation from the LDPR following the elections of 2 December 2007
and was re-elected to the Duma of the 6th, 7th and 8th convocations. On 26 March 2015, by
Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 161, he was awarded the Order “For Merit
to the Fatherland,” IV class.
52. V. N. Krasikov was released from a German prison on 1 August 2024 as part of the largest
prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War. At Vnukovo airport, V. V. Putin personally
greeted Krasikov and embraced him. Earlier, in an interview with T. Carlson in February 2024, V.
V. Putin described the person convicted in Berlin as a “patriot” who had “liquidated a bandit in
one of the European capitals.”
53. Attack using the Novichok (A-234) military nerve agent against S. V. Skripal and his daughter
Yulia in Salisbury (United Kingdom) on 4 March 2018. British law-enforcement authorities
established the involvement of officers of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed
Forces of the Russian Federation (GU GS, formerly GRU), in particular A. V. Mishkin (“Petrov”)
and A. E. Chepiga (“Boshirov”). See OPCW Report S/1612/2018 of 12 April 2018, which
confirmed the identification of the substance as a Novichok military nerve agent under the
Russian designation.
54. Explosion at an ammunition depot in Vrbetice (Czech Republic) on 16 October 2014 – two Czech
citizens were killed. In April 2021, the Government of the Czech Republic officially established
the involvement of officers of GRU military unit 29155 (A. V. Mishkin, A. E. Chepiga and
others) and expelled 18 Russian diplomats declared persona non grata.
55. Military intervention by the Russian Federation in the Syrian Arab Republic from 30 September
2015 on the side of B. Assad’s regime. Systematic strikes on civilian objects, including medical
facilities in Idlib province, during 2015–2024 were documented by the Independent International
Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, established by UN Human Rights Council
Resolution S-17/1 of 23 August 2011.
56. The private military company “Wagner Group,” whose activities have been documented in Syria,
Libya, the Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan, Mozambique and Ukraine. The state nature of
its financing, equipment and command was confirmed, in particular, by V. V. Putin’s admissions
on 24 and 27 June 2023 that the Wagner Group was fully financed from the federal budget of the
Russian Federation in the amount of 86.262 billion rubles from May 2022 to May 2023.
57. Forced landing of Ryanair flight FR4978 “Athens-Vilnius” in Minsk on 23 May 2021 for the
purpose of detaining journalist R. A. Protasevich. An investigation by the International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO Fact-Finding Investigation Report, July 2022) confirmed that the
seizure of the aircraft was carried out with operational support from Russian special services.
58. Complete destruction of the city of Grozny during the hostilities of 1994–1996 and 1999–2000; in 2003 the
UN described Grozny as “the most destroyed city in the world.” The deaths of tens of thousands of
civilians in the Chechen Republic during that period are confirmed by reports of the Memorial Human
Rights Center, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
59. Apartment-building bombings in Buynaksk (4 September 1999, 64 dead), Moscow on Guryanova Street (9
September 1999, 106 dead) and Kashirskoye Highway (13 September 1999, 124 dead), and in Volgodonsk
(16 September 1999, 19 dead) – 307 dead and more than 1,700 wounded in total. On 22–23 September
1999 in Ryazan, FSB officers found bags of a substance identified by Interior Ministry experts as hexogen,
which, after initial Interior Ministry statements about a prevented terrorist attack, were declared to be part
of an “exercise.” State Duma deputies S. N. Yushenkov and Yu. P. Shchekochikhin, as well as A. S.
Litvinenko and A. S. Politkovskaya, who investigated those circumstances, subsequently died in violent or
suspicious circumstances. The report of the public commission headed by State Duma deputy S. A.
Kovalev was not investigated by parliamentary bodies; the materials remain classified.
60. S. N. Yushenkov, State Duma deputy and co-chairman of the Liberal Russia party, who investigated the
1999 apartment bombings, was murdered on 17 April 2003 in Moscow. Yu. P. Shchekochikhin, State Duma
deputy and deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, who worked on the same materials, died on 3 July
2003 with symptoms of acute allergic poisoning by an unidentified substance; his medical file is classified.
61. A. S. Politkovskaya, a columnist for Novaya Gazeta, was murdered on 7 October 2006 in the entrance of
her apartment building in Moscow. Despite the identification and conviction of the perpetrators (from
Chechnya), the organizer and mastermind of the murder have not been officially established.
62. Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Carter v. Russia (application No. 20914/07) of 21
September 2021. The Court found “beyond reasonable doubt” that the murder of A. V. Litvinenko in
London in November 2006 by poisoning with polonium-210 was carried out by A. K. Lugovoy and D. V.
Kovtun, acting “as agents of the Russian State.”
63. Hostage-taking at Secondary School No. 1 in Beslan on 1–3 September 2004 – 334 hostages were killed,
including 186 children. The ECtHR judgment in Tagayeva and Others v. Russia (application No. 26562/07
and others) of 13 April 2017 found a violation by the Russian Federation of Article 2 of the European
Convention, including due to the disproportionate use of assault weapons – tank guns and thermobaric
rockets – against a building held with child hostages inside.
64. Attack using the Novichok military nerve agent against A. A. Navalny in Tomsk on 20 August 2020.
Identification of the substance as Novichok was confirmed by the OPCW (OPCW Report CR-NAV/01/20,
October 2020) and by independent laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden. A joint investigation by
Bellingcat, The Insider, CNN and Der Spiegel established the involvement of the FSB “Criminalistics
Institute” unit under S. V. Makhovikov. A. A. Navalny died on 16 February 2024 in the “Polar Wolf” penal
colony (IK-3) in Kharp, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, under unclear circumstances.
65. V. V. Kara-Murza, a Russian political and public figure, was subjected to poisonings in 2015 and 2017 that
resulted in multiple organ failure. According to a 2021 investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider, the
same FSB unit that attacked A. A. Navalny was involved in the poisonings. In April 2023 he was sentenced
in Russia to 25 years’ imprisonment on charges connected with his public anti-war position; he was
released in August 2024 as part of an international exchange.
66. B. E. Nemtsov, former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and leader of RPR-PARNAS, was
murdered on 27 February 2015 on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in immediate proximity to the Kremlin.
Despite the conviction of five men from Chechnya, the organizer and mastermind of the murder have not
been officially established.
67. A. S. Politkovskaya, a columnist for Novaya Gazeta, was murdered on 7 October 2006 in the entrance of
her apartment building in Moscow. Despite the identification and conviction of the perpetrators (from
Chechnya), the organizer and mastermind of the murder have not been officially established.
68. S. Yu. Markelov, a Russian human-rights lawyer, and A. E. Baburova, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, were
murdered on 19 January 2009 in central Moscow. The perpetrators were convicted; the organizers have not
been officially established.
69. N. Kh. Estemirova, an employee of the Memorial Human Rights Center, was abducted in Grozny and killed
on 15 July 2009 in Ingushetia. The investigation did not lead to the prosecution of those who ordered the
crime.
70. S. L. Magnitsky, an auditor for the investment company Hermitage Capital Management, died on 16
November 2009 in the Butyrka pre-trial detention center as a result of denial of medical care and, according
to the 2011 findings of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, beatings with rubber
truncheons. Based on his case, “Magnitsky Acts” were adopted in the United States, Canada, the United
Kingdom, the European Union and a number of other jurisdictions.
71. S. N. Yushenkov, State Duma deputy and co-chairman of the Liberal Russia party, who investigated the
1999 apartment bombings, was murdered on 17 April 2003 in Moscow. Yu. P. Shchekochikhin, State Duma
deputy and deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, who worked on the same materials, died on 3 July
2003 with symptoms of acute allergic poisoning by an unidentified substance; his medical file is classified.
72. B. A. Berezovsky, a Russian political emigre, was found dead on 23 March 2013 at his home in Berkshire
(United Kingdom). The British coroner returned an “open verdict.”
73. UN Security Council Resolution 1566 (2004) of 8 October 2004, para. 3: “criminal acts,
including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or
taking hostages, with the purpose of provoking a state of terror in the general public or in a group
of persons or particular persons, intimidating a population or compelling a government or
international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act <…> are under no circumstances
justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or
other similar nature.”
74. Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism, adopted by UN General Assembly
Resolution 49/60 of 9 December 1994.
75. International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism of 9 December 1999.
The Russian Federation ratified the Convention by Federal Law No. 88-FZ of 10 July 2002.
76. International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings of 15 December 1997.
Ratified by the Russian Federation by Federal Law No. 19-FZ of 13 February 2001.
77. European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism of 27 January 1977 (Strasbourg).
78. UN Security Council Resolution 2341 (2017) of 13 February 2017 on the protection of critical
infrastructure against terrorist attacks.
79. Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12
August 1949.
80. Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of
victims of international armed conflicts, of 8 June 1977. See in particular Article 51 (protection of
the civilian population) and Article 52 (general protection of civilian objects).
81. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 17 July 1998. See Article 6 (genocide),
Article 7 (crimes against humanity), Article 8 (war crimes), and Article 8 bis (crime of
aggression).
82. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by UN General
Assembly Resolution 260 (III) of 9 December 1948.
83. Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, developed by the UN
International Law Commission and commended by UN General Assembly Resolution 56/83 of
12 December 2001. See in particular Article 4 (conduct of organs of a State), Article 7 (excess of
authority), Article 8 (conduct under the direction or control of a State), and Article 11 (conduct
acknowledged and adopted by a State as its own).
84. Constitution of the Russian Federation, adopted by nationwide vote on 12 December 1993,
Article 15(4): “Universally recognized principles and norms of international law and international
treaties of the Russian Federation are an integral part of its legal system.”
85. Federal Law of 6 March 2006 No. 35-FZ “On Countering Terrorism,” Article 3(1): “terrorism is
the ideology of violence and the practice of influencing decisions by state authorities, local
self-government bodies or international organizations, associated with intimidating the population
and/or other forms of unlawful violent actions.”
86. Ibid., Article 3(3): “terrorist act” means the commission of an explosion, arson or other actions
intimidating the population and creating a danger of loss of life, significant property damage,
environmental catastrophe or other grave consequences, for the purpose of destabilizing the
activities of authorities or international organizations or influencing their decision-making, as
well as the threat of such actions for the same purposes.
87. Federal Law of 6 March 2006 No. 35-FZ “On Countering Terrorism,” Article 3(2) – the definition
of “terrorist activity” includes its organization, planning, preparation, financing and
implementation, incitement, and also “informational or other assistance in planning, preparing or
carrying out a terrorist act.”
88. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of 13 June 1996 No. 63-FZ, Article 205, “Terrorist
Act.”
89. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 205.1, “Assistance to terrorist activity,”
including: “persuading, recruiting or otherwise involving a person in the commission of at least
one of the crimes provided for by Articles 205, 205.3, 205.4, 205.5 of this Code, arming or
training a person for the purpose of committing at least one of those crimes, as well as financing
terrorism.”
90. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 205.2, “Public calls for terrorist activity, public
justification of terrorism or propaganda of terrorism.”
91. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 277, “Attack on the life of a statesman or public
figure” – an attack on the life of a statesman or public figure committed for the purpose of
terminating his or her state or other political activity or out of revenge for such activity.
92. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 357, “Genocide” – actions aimed at the
complete or partial destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such by killing its
members, causing serious harm to their health, forcibly preventing births, forcibly transferring
children, forcibly resettling the group, or otherwise creating living conditions calculated to
physically destroy members of that group.
93. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 353, “Planning, preparation, initiation or
conduct of an aggressive war.”
94. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 356, “Use of prohibited means and methods of
warfare.”
95. Strike on the Drama Theater in Mariupol on 16 March 2022, which, according to various
estimates, killed up to 600 civilians sheltering in the building, on whose roof the word
“CHILDREN” had been laid out in large letters. See Amnesty International’s investigation
“‘Children’: the attack on the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre,” June 2022.
96. Strike by Russian Tochka-U missiles with cluster warheads on the railway station in Kramatorsk
on 8 April 2022, which killed more than 60 people, mostly women and children waiting for
evacuation trains.
97. Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, established by UN
Human Rights Council Resolution S-34/1 of 4 March 2022 (A/HRC/52/62 of 15 March 2023 and
subsequent reports), as well as materials of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine
(HRMMU). Mass killings of civilians in Bucha, Irpin and other settlements of Kyiv region in
March 2022 were documented as war crimes.
98. According to Ukrainian authorities and the National Information Bureau, as of 2024–2025 more
than 19,000 identified Ukrainian children had been unlawfully taken from temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine and border regions to Russia; the real scale of deportation, according to
international observers, is many times higher. These actions formed the basis for the ICC’s arrest
warrants for the President of Russia and the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
99. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 17 July 1998. See Article 6 (genocide),
Article 7 (crimes against humanity), Article 8 (war crimes), and Article 8 bis (crime of
aggression).
100. Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the
protection of victims of international armed conflicts, of 8 June 1977. See in particular Article 51
(protection of the civilian population) and Article 52 (general protection of civilian objects).
101. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by UN
General Assembly Resolution 260 (III) of 9 December 1948.
102. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of 13 June 1996 No. 63-FZ, Article 205, “Terrorist
Act.”
103. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 353, “Planning, preparation, initiation or
conduct of an aggressive war.”
104. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 356, “Use of prohibited means and methods
of warfare.”
105. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 357, “Genocide” – actions aimed at the
complete or partial destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such by killing its
members, causing serious harm to their health, forcibly preventing births, forcibly transferring
children, forcibly resettling the group, or otherwise creating living conditions calculated to
physically destroy members of that group.
106. Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Carter v. Russia (application No.
20914/07) of 21 September 2021. The Court found “beyond reasonable doubt” that the murder of
A. V. Litvinenko in London in November 2006 by poisoning with polonium-210 was carried out
by A. K. Lugovoy and D. V. Kovtun, acting “as agents of the Russian State.”
107. Judgment of the Berlin Higher Regional Court (Kammergericht Berlin) of 15 December 2021
in case 2 StE 4/20. V. N. Krasikov (also “Sokolov”), a career FSB officer, was found guilty of
murdering Z. Khangoshvili (a Georgian citizen of Chechen origin) on 23 August 2019 in Kleiner
Tiergarten Park in Berlin and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The court characterized the
murder as an “act of state terrorism” committed on behalf of the Russian state.
108. Technical Secretariat of the OPCW, Summary of Report S/1612/2018 of 12 April 2018
(Salisbury) and Report S/1906/2020 of 6 October 2020 (A. A. Navalny) – officially confirming
the identification of the substances as Novichok-group military nerve agents prohibited by the
1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.
109. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 277, “Attack on the life of a statesman or
public figure” – an attack on the life of a statesman or public figure committed for the purpose of
terminating his or her state or other political activity or out of revenge for such activity.
110. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of 13 June 1996 No. 63-FZ, Article 205, “Terrorist
Act.”
111. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 205.1, “Assistance to terrorist activity,”
including: “persuading, recruiting or otherwise involving a person in the commission of at least
one of the crimes provided for by Articles 205, 205.3, 205.4, 205.5 of this Code, arming or
training a person for the purpose of committing at least one of those crimes, as well as financing
terrorism.”
112. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 356, “Use of prohibited means and methods
of warfare.”
113. International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings of 15 December 1997.
Ratified by the Russian Federation by Federal Law No. 19-FZ of 13 February 2001.
114. International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism of 9 December
1999. The Russian Federation ratified the Convention by Federal Law No. 88-FZ of 10 July 2002.
115. Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, developed by the UN
International Law Commission and commended by UN General Assembly Resolution 56/83 of
12 December 2001. See in particular Article 4 (conduct of organs of a State), Article 7 (excess of
authority), Article 8 (conduct under the direction or control of a State), and Article 11 (conduct
acknowledged and adopted by a State as its own).
116. A. K. Lugovoy was elected as a deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the
Russian Federation of the 5th convocation from the LDPR following the elections of 2 December
2007 and was re-elected to the Duma of the 6th, 7th and 8th convocations. On 26 March 2015, by
Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 161, he was awarded the Order “For Merit
to the Fatherland,” IV class.
117. V. N. Krasikov was released from a German prison on 1 August 2024 as part of the largest
prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War. At Vnukovo airport, V. V. Putin personally
greeted Krasikov and embraced him. Earlier, in an interview with T. Carlson in February 2024, V.
V. Putin described the person convicted in Berlin as a “patriot” who had “liquidated a bandit in
one of the European capitals.”
118. Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, developed by the UN
International Law Commission and commended by UN General Assembly Resolution 56/83 of
12 December 2001. See in particular Article 4 (conduct of organs of a State), Article 7 (excess of
authority), Article 8 (conduct under the direction or control of a State), and Article 11 (conduct
acknowledged and adopted by a State as its own).
119. Apartment-building bombings in Buynaksk (4 September 1999, 64 dead), Moscow on
Guryanova Street (9 September 1999, 106 dead) and Kashirskoye Highway (13 September 1999,
124 dead), and in Volgodonsk (16 September 1999, 19 dead) – 307 dead and more than 1,700
wounded in total. On 22–23 September 1999 in Ryazan, FSB officers found bags of a substance
identified by Interior Ministry experts as hexogen, which, after initial Interior Ministry statements
about a prevented terrorist attack, were declared to be part of an “exercise.” State Duma deputies
S. N. Yushenkov and Yu. P. Shchekochikhin, as well as A. S. Litvinenko and A. S. Politkovskaya,
who investigated those circumstances, subsequently died in violent or suspicious circumstances.
The report of the public commission headed by State Duma deputy S. A. Kovalev was not
investigated by parliamentary bodies; the materials remain classified.
120. Hostage-taking at the Dubrovka Theater Center (“Nord-Ost”) on 23–26 October 2002. As a
result of the use of a fentanyl-group nerve agent (carfentanil) during the assault, more than 130
hostages died. The composition of the substance was not disclosed to medical services, which
predetermined mass deaths. The ECtHR judgment in Finogenov and Others v. Russia
(applications Nos. 18299/03 and 27311/03) of 20 December 2011 found a violation by the
Russian Federation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
121. Hostage-taking at Secondary School No. 1 in Beslan on 1–3 September 2004 – 334 hostages
were killed, including 186 children. The ECtHR judgment in Tagayeva and Others v. Russia
(application No. 26562/07 and others) of 13 April 2017 found a violation by the Russian
Federation of Article 2 of the European Convention, including due to the disproportionate use of
assault weapons – tank guns and thermobaric rockets – against a building held with child hostages
inside.
122. Federal Law of 6 March 2006 No. 35-FZ “On Countering Terrorism,” Article 3(1): “terrorism
is the ideology of violence and the practice of influencing decisions by state authorities, local
self-government bodies or international organizations, associated with intimidating the population
and/or other forms of unlawful violent actions.”
123. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of 13 June 1996 No. 63-FZ, Article 205, “Terrorist
Act.”
124. UN Security Council Resolution 1566 (2004) of 8 October 2004, para. 3: “criminal acts,
including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or
taking hostages, with the purpose of provoking a state of terror in the general public or in a group
of persons or particular persons, intimidating a population or compelling a government or
international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act <…> are under no circumstances
justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or
other similar nature.”
125. International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism of 9 December
1999. The Russian Federation ratified the Convention by Federal Law No. 88-FZ of 10 July 2002.
126. Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the
protection of victims of international armed conflicts, of 8 June 1977. See in particular Article 51
(protection of the civilian population) and Article 52 (general protection of civilian objects).
127. Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, developed by the UN
International Law Commission and commended by UN General Assembly Resolution 56/83 of
12 December 2001. See in particular Article 4 (conduct of organs of a State), Article 7 (excess of
authority), Article 8 (conduct under the direction or control of a State), and Article 11 (conduct
acknowledged and adopted by a State as its own).
128. International Criminal Court. Situation in Ukraine: “ICC judges issue arrest warrants against
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova” (press release of 17 March
2023).

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