russia Is Turning Denunciation into State Policy

In russia, the wave of denunciations continues to grow, although the concept itself is not legally defined. The temporarily occupied Crimea has become the main venue for this practice: groups of people are recorded monitoring social networks around the clock and passing on information about anti-war statements to siloviki. By the beginning of this autumn, more than 1,500 reports had been filed there for “discrediting the army”. Other leaders include moscow, st. petersburg, and the krasnodar territory.

The motivations of these “concerned citizens” vary, ranging from pseudo-patriotic slogans to the desire to earn money or advance their careers. The symbol of this wave is Ivan Abaturov from yekaterinburg, who for a long time had been hiding under the fictitious name of Anna Korobkova. His “portfolio” includes hundreds of reports on teachers and scientists, and in total he boasts more than 1,500 reports on opposition citizens since the beginning of the war.

The repressive system of the rf actively converts such  “signals” into cases. From February 2022 to December 2025, courts had considered 12,019 administrative and 227 criminal proceedings for “discrediting the army”. The trend is clear: administrative cases are gradually being replaced by criminal ones. The kremlin not only tolerates but also encourages this atmosphere of denunciation. A telling example was the celebration of stalin’s birthday with the participation of MPs and officials, after which 17 new monuments to the dictator appeared in the country.