Responding to the Russian Supreme Court’s closed-door decision to designate the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF/FBK), founded by colleagues of the late prisoner of conscience Aleksei Navalny, a “terrorist organization,” Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:
“The Kremlin’s long campaign against the late opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and his supporters has reached a stunning peak. By branding FBK a ‘terrorist organization’ in arbitrary court proceedings behind closed doors, the authorities are not only smearing and trying to erase Navalny’s legacy but they are also exposing tens of thousands of Russian citizens who have been associated with him over the past 15 years to the potential risk of prosecution.
“Posting a photograph of Navalny has already proven enough to trigger severe personal consequences; now it will guarantee arrest and imprisonment.”
“The Kremlin’s long campaign against the late opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and his supporters has reached a stunning peak.”
Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia
“The Russian authorities must stop weaponizing ‘anti-terrorism’ legislation to silence critics, they must reverse the ban on FBK, end the persecution of people allegedly linked to it and ensure an independent international investigation into Aleksei Navalny’s torture and other ill-treatment – and death – in custody.”
Background
On 27 November 2025, the Supreme Court granted the Prosecutor General’s Office’s request to recognise the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Inc., the US-registered successor of the banned Russia-based FBK, as a “terrorist organization.” The hearing was held behind closed doors, presided over by the same judge who had previously outlawed the non-existent “international LGBT movement” and “international satanism movement” as “extremist.”
FBK, founded by prominent opposition figure Aleksei Navalny in 2011, became well-known for its investigations of corruption in the Russian government and mobilizing popular support for its anti-graft campaigns. The Russian authorities banned the association in 2021 for being an “extremist organization,” and its alleged members and donors have faced unjust prosecutions.
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