Russia Will Create A "List Of Enemies Of The People"
- 24.07.2026, 17:25
From anti-war relocants.
At its plenary session on Friday, the Federation Council approved a law imposing restrictive measures on political émigrés from Russia who have been convicted in absentia, according to The Moscow Times.
According to the document, which the State Duma approved in two readings on July 22 and which will now be sent to the president for signature, the Ministry of Justice will maintain an official list of individuals who are “evading” “the execution of their sentences” and are located abroad.
The list will include citizens who have been convicted under any article of the Criminal Code, as well as under political articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses: failure to comply with requirements under the “foreign agent” law, participation in the activities of “undesirable organizations,” “discrediting” the armed forces, calls for the imposition of sanctions, or “violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.”
The Prosecutor General and his deputy will have the authority to add Russians to the “blacklist.” Information from the database will be forwarded to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service, the Federal Penitentiary Service, the Federal Bailiff Service, the Federal Tax Service, Rosreestr, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, and other agencies for the imposition of restrictions.
Russian citizens included on the list will be completely barred from using remote banking services and will be denied access to state and municipal services provided electronically (“Gosuslugi”). Real estate transactions will be blocked for them, and their funds and assets will be frozen.
Furthermore, a de facto ban on consular services abroad will be imposed. Russian embassies and consulates worldwide, in accordance with the law, will no longer issue new passports to those on the “blacklist,” nor will they issue any other documents except for a certificate confirming that the person is alive. A ban is also being imposed on registering as a sole proprietor or self-employed individual, receiving any payments from the state budget, obtaining loans and credits, as well as any actions taken on a person’s behalf under a power of attorney.
The scope of the restrictions in the law is such that “it resembles a de facto deprivation of citizenship,” as experts from “First Department” previously wrote: “The state retains jurisdiction and control over the individual, continues to demand the enforcement of the punishment, but does not grant a substantial portion of the rights typically associated with citizenship.”
A person who has left the country for political reasons and is deemed an “absentee” is effectively granted the status of an “invalidated citizen,” as “First Department” emphasized: “Everything connected to the Russian Federation (property, bank accounts, business, consular services) can be used against them, while they themselves are practically deprived of any opportunity to use these things to their advantage.”