Russia’s Reach Beyond Borders Leaves Exiled Critics Living in Fear, UN Expert Warns

The report records 89 incidents of transnational repression in the three years after 2022, compared with 29 in the preceding eight years, representing roughly an eightfold rise in the annual rate.

Leaving Russia can mean rebuilding a life without escaping the threats that forced someone to leave. UN human rights expert Mariana Katzarova says Moscow has built a state-run system to monitor, intimidate and punish critics overseas, using pressure on relatives at home to extend its reach. Her report to the Human Rights Council, drawing on almost 400 documented cases, describes a coordinated strategy tied to authoritarian rule and Russia's war against Ukraine, violating international law and challenging the sovereignty of countries sheltering exiles.

Exile offers no guarantee of safety

Between 650,000 and 900,000 people have left Russia since February 2022, its largest political emigration since the 20th century. The report records 89 incidents of transnational repression in the three years after 2022, compared with 29 in the preceding eight years, representing roughly an eightfold rise in the annual rate. Sentences handed down without defendants present increased from four in 2022 to 157 in 2025; at least nine Federal Security Service departments reportedly participate alongside military and foreign intelligence agencies, prosecutors and ministries.

The threats include assassinations, attempted killings, assaults and poisonings, with Russia ranking third among 10 states responsible for more than 70% of documented direct physical attacks over the past decade. Cases include Alexander Litvinenko's killing in London in 2006 and Zelimkhan Khangoshvili's in Berlin in 2019. Journalist Elena Kostyuchenko reported a suspected poisoning in Munich, Irina Babloyan in Tbilisi in 2022, and activist Natalia Arno in Czechia and Germany in 2023. Katzarova describes accountability as absent, saying Russian authorities deny involvement and have sometimes promoted or honoured alleged perpetrators.

Bank accounts and passports become pressure points

For people trying to settle abroad, repression can arrive through an arrest warrant, a frozen account or a cancelled passport. Katzarova identifies databases, digital systems, proxies and lawsuits intended to silence critics as tools of this expanding system. Russia is the most frequent user of INTERPOL Red Notices, according to the release, and roughly half of Russia-related cases examined by INTERPOL's oversight body in 2024 failed to comply with its Constitution.

Russia's financial monitoring agency, Rosfinmonitoring, lists 21,541 people as "terrorists and extremists", including at least 5,063 prosecuted on politically motivated charges. The report says these designations pass automatically, without verification, into global compliance databases including LSEG World-Check and LexisNexis, prompting banks to block accounts without evidence. Rights monitoring group OVD-Info joined the register in June 2026. An August 2026 law introduced 14 categories of restrictions on listed Russians abroad, including asset freezes and passport withdrawals, a loss of basic rights Katzarova describes as "civic death".

Protection depends on the countries offering refuge

Women escaping forced marriage and domestic violence in Chechnya, LGBT activists and Indigenous rights advocates face particular danger across borders. The release describes torture survivor Mansur Movlayev, who fled Chechnya and attempted suicide twice after nearly 18 months in detention in Kazakhstan over a Russian extradition request. Repeated asylum refusals have left him facing the risk of torture or death if returned, illustrating the consequences Katzarova associates with host countries continuing to honour legal-assistance agreements with Russia.

Katzarova is urging host governments to uphold the ban on returning people to places where they face torture or other serious harm, scrutinise Russian INTERPOL notices and wanted-list entries, and require banks to verify Russian designations before acting. These protections can prevent authorities and institutions abroad from becoming channels for persecution. She calls for a UN convention establishing shared definitions, government duties, prevention measures, accountability and cooperation between countries, addressing the absence of a binding international instrument specifically covering transnational repression.