Russia’s Justice Ministry has added the Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to its list of “undesirable” organizations, a move that renders affiliation with the anti-war group illegal.
The delegation of Russian exiles was set up in January after years of lobbying efforts by leading opposition figures like former businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Several members of the anti-war group, including dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza and Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, already face criminal prosecution in Russia.
Under Russian law, individuals affiliated with an “undesirable” entity can face up to four years in prison. Organizing the work of an “undesirable” group carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison.
Neither the Prosecutor General’s Office, which ruled to designate the Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces as “undesirable” on Oct. 21, nor the Justice Ministry, which approved the designation on Thursday, have officially commented on the decision.
Besides the PACE delegation, the Justice Ministry blacklisted another 11 foreign entities on Thursday, including Vidim Books, a publishing house founded in Slovakia in 2023 to print books that are censored or banned inside Russia.
Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe and PACE in March 2022, shortly after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It had been a member for 26 years.
Introduced in 2015, Russia’s “undesirable” designation has been used to hinder the work of independent media outlets, civil society groups and the political opposition. Hundreds of entities have since been added to the registry, including The Moscow Times.
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