Irina Scherbakova is a founding member of Memorial.Image: www.imago-images.de
April 9, 2026, 1:00 p.mApr 9, 2026, 1:24 p.m
Friedemann Kohler/dpa
The human rights organization Memorial, which was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, has been banned in Russia. At the request of the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court of Russia classified the “international social movement Memorial” as extremist and declared its activities banned in the country.
The state news agency Tass reported this from the court in Moscow. The decision must be implemented immediately. The trial took place behind closed doors.
Under Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, support for Memorial could become a criminal offense for thousands of people in Russia – in the worst case, retroactively. “This unprecedented step is intended to delegitimize and criminalize the entire memorial network and everyone who supports it,” said the exile organization Zukunft Memorial in Berlin. “The Putin regime fears the memory of Soviet dictatorship and state terror. But this memory cannot be banned.”
These are the most important questions and answers about the fate of the most important Russian non-governmental organization:
Why was Memorial so important for Russia?
The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, shared with laureates from Ukraine and Belarus, represented recognition for Memorial for almost four decades of history and human rights work. The organization was founded in 1989 in the late Soviet period; the nuclear physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov (1921-89) was one of its founding fathers.
Supported by many volunteers, Memorial worked on long-hidden crimes of the Stalin era. It collected names and data on camp prisoners, created archives, looked after survivors and helped relatives with research. Memorials were also built.
Books and educational work reached tens of thousands of people. Human rights experts from the Memorial have repeatedly denounced legal violations by the Russian state power – whether in the wars against the breakaway region of Chechnya or in political trials.
What does the verdict say about the situation in Russia?
The more authoritarian Putin rules, the less he allows a critical view of Russian history. His Russia should appear as an Orthodox great power without mistakes and crimes. Memorial was branded a so-called foreign agent back in 2016. In 2021, the central structures in Moscow were dissolved by a controversial court order and many employees were forced into exile.
Allows less and less criticism: Vladimir Putin.Image: keystone
Memorial co-founder Irina Scherbakova calls the accusation of extremism an attack on critical historical work. The Gulag Museum in Moscow, which was reminiscent of the Soviet camp system, was also closed, says the current chairwoman of Zukunft Memorial in Berlin. Because of the war against Ukraine, Putin’s leadership is trying to stifle any possible resistance in Russian society. “We see that people have become afraid.”
What threatens Memorial’s colleagues in Russia?
Despite the repression, Memorial’s work in Russia has not come to a complete standstill. There are regional circles. The “Last Address” campaign continued, which commemorates victims of political persecution – similar to the golden stumbling blocks in Germany to Holocaust victims. Every year on October 30th, the names of Stalin’s victims were read out at the Solovetsky memorial stone directly in front of the Moscow secret service headquarters.
The new ban is legally vaguely aimed at Memorial as a movement. This means that many activities can be considered extremist – similar to the Russian ban on an allegedly well-organized LGBT movement. The authorities have also classified the organizations of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who was tortured to death in custody in 2024, as extremist. Navalny supporters are being punished because of their previous cooperation or donations. Even long-forgotten posts on social networks serve as evidence of extremism. The opposition continues to work in exile.
Memorial recommends that its colleagues remove the logo from social media profiles and not repost texts. You want to offer as little attack surface as possible, says Scherbakowa. What risk someone takes in the future “will be the decision of each individual.”
What changes for Memorial’s work in exile?
Given Memorial’s expulsion from its homeland, its work abroad becomes even more important; and the human rights activists don’t want to stick it up. “We remain the voice of our organization,” says Scherbakova. The important archive with millions of documents has been largely digitized and published on the Internet, says Elena Zhemkova, managing director of Zukunft Memorial in Berlin. “This knowledge is accessible worldwide and can no longer be destroyed.”
“This knowledge is accessible worldwide and can no longer be destroyed.”
Even if work in Russia becomes impossible, Memorial will not be superfluous, according to the organization’s statement. “On the contrary: it makes our task more urgent. Remembering is resistance – against historical myths and against a new legitimation of state aggression internally and externally.” (sda/dpa)