(Brussels, February 4, 2026) - In the fourth year of its full-scale war against Ukraine, the Kremlin further escalated the crackdown on Russian civil society, targeting critics both inside the country and in exile, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. Aiming to stifle all forms of dissent, authorities expanded censorship and surveillance, increasingly used "undermining state security" charges, and streamlined prosecutions of critics designated as "foreign agents."

"Russian authorities scaled up repression against civil society activists and other critics. They also intensified their harmful 'traditional values' crusade that targets migrants, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and encroaches on women's reproductive rights," said Benjamin Ward, Europe and Central Asia acting director at Human Rights Watch.

In the 529-page World Report 2026, its 36th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices inmore than100 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Philippe Bolopion writes that breaking the authoritarian wave sweeping the world is the challenge of a generation. With the human rights system under unprecedented threat from the Trump administration and other global powers, Bolopion calls on rights-respecting democracies and civil society to build a strategic alliance to defend fundamental freedoms.

Russia should release all political prisoners and rescind all laws incompatible with fundamental human rights, including laws that censor criticism of the war and laws against so-called "foreign agents," "undesirable" organizations, and "gay propaganda." Russia should also rescind legislation that discriminates against migrants and their children, Human Rights Watch said.

Source: Human Rights Watch