site.btaUPDATED UN Human Rights Rapporteur Mariana Katzarova Reports Escalating Repression in Russia, Highlights Deportations of Ukrainians, Torture of POWs

The UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia, Mariana Katzarova, reports in her latest document a further escalation of repression, including against journalists and cultural figures. She places special emphasis on the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian citizens and on cases of Ukrainian prisoners of war being tortured by medical staff. 

The Bulgarian expert, who assumed the post in 2023, will officially present her report Monday during the 60th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. BTA has gained access to its contents.

The trends noted in previous reports persist, but 2024 and 2025 were marked by further consolidation and expansion of repressive instruments, specifically through the use of national security legislation to silence dissent and restrict civic space, Katzarova summarises in her report.

Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities increasingly resorted to criminal prosecution, long prison sentences, intimidation, torture, and ill-treatment to stifle opposition to the war. Yet, in the course of this war against Ukraine, grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law are being committed with impunity, which in turn has fuelled the escalation of repression within the Russian Federation itself, the Special Rapporteur observes.

Katzarova’s report presents updated, evidence-based findings on the deteriorating state of human rights in Russia, both in legislation and in practice, and provides analysis and recommendations to the Russian authorities and the international community. 

General findings

The Special Rapporteur finds mounting repression and consolidation of authoritarian control in Russia. The vague and overly broad legislative framework continues to be used for politically motivated prosecutions. Laws on “foreign agents,” “undesirable organizations,” “discrediting the armed forces,” spreading “fake news” about the army, as well as legislation on “terrorism” and “extremism,” are systematically applied to suppress dissent and criticism.

Peaceful civic activities by human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, political opponents and anti-war activists are criminalized and reframed in official narratives as “existential security threats,” branding such individuals as “enemies of the state.” State-promoted nationalist ideology normalizes discrimination and violence against women and girls, LGBT+ persons, indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, migrants and asylum seekers, Katzarova reports.

State-controlled media and public education increasingly propagate militarized narratives, portraying the war as a patriotic duty and moral imperative, while normalizing aggression and violating the prohibition of war propaganda. 

Facts and figures

As of July 18, 2025, 1,040 individuals and organizations were designated “foreign agents,” 133 of them since January 2025. 

As of July 24, 2025, 245 organizations were labeled “undesirable,” including Amnesty International (May 2025) and Reporters Without Borders (August 2025). 

Between mid-2024 and mid-2025, documented arrests at protests dropped to 295, reflecting suppression of dissent, while prosecutions rose sharply, with at least 3,905 convictions for peaceful expression.
At least 912 people faced politically motivated prosecutions between 2024 and mid-2025, 390 of whom remain in custody.

Repression against the media

Since 2022, Russian authorities have opened 1,259 criminal cases over public statements critical of the state or opposing the war. By June 2025, 195 media outlets had been deemed “undesirable.”

With 50 journalists imprisoned, Russia ranks third globally, including 29 Ukrainians detained in Russia or occupied territories.

At least 65 exiled Russian journalists face criminal charges in absentia, with assets confiscated.

Detention and ill-treatment of Ukrainians

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians remain in detention in Russia. Deaths due to torture and denial of medical care are reported, while the International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied access.

The report cites the case of Ukrainian POW Andriy Pereverzev, tortured in February 2024 in Donetsk, where a surgeon branded his abdomen with “Glory to Russia” and the letter “Z” during surgery.

Conclusions

The human rights situation in Russia is deteriorating in what Katzarova calls a “seismic decline.” Over the past three and a half years, authorities have pursued a deliberate strategy of silencing dissent through censorship, politically motivated prosecutions, and expansion of “foreign agent” and “undesirable entity” laws. Civil space is being systematically dismantled, while vulnerable groups – women, LGBT+ people, minorities, indigenous communities, religious groups and migrants – are especially targeted.

“State institutions have been captured and turned into tools of repression and war,” Katzarova writes in her report.