Russia Hands Down 1,865 Terrorism-Related Verdicts in Nine Months

Russian courts delivered 1,865 verdicts in cases brought under terrorism articles of the criminal code between January and September this year. That is more than in the whole of 2025, when 2,078 people were convicted. The number of such verdicts has risen sharply since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Human rights defenders say a considerable share of the cases concern not actual terrorist attacks but social media publications, comments and money transfers.

Quarterly figures

Courts issued 449 verdicts in the first quarter, 696 in the second and 720 in the third. July was the peak month with 295 verdicts. From July to September, military courts convicted an average of 12 people every working day. Proceedings also sped up: the average time from a case reaching court to the verdict fell from 47 days in the first quarter to 37 days in the third. More than two thirds of cases decided in July, August and September were heard in under two months.

Structure of the charges

The most common charge remains the article on public calls for terrorism, or its justification or propaganda, with 785 people convicted under it. Its share nonetheless dropped from 54.3% to 49.5%. The share of cases under the article on assisting terrorist activity, which also covers financing it, rose from 9.8% to 14.8%.

According to rights defenders' calculations, 203 convicts faced terrorism charges combined with treason, espionage or secret cooperation with a foreign state, 175 with "extremism", and 24 with sabotage. Researchers note that a significant portion of cases is tied to Russians trying to join units fighting on Ukraine's side, in particular the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps.

The Southern District Military Court, which also hears cases from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, handed down the most verdicts. Together with the 2nd Western District Military Court it handled 1,152 cases, nearly 62% of the total. The identities of 1,312 convicts are concealed in published court documents.

Forecast

Dmitry Zair-Bek, head of the "First Department" project, forecasts that verdicts will reach about 2,500 by year-end. He is especially concerned by the growing number of cases over money transfers, including in cryptocurrency. In his view, the next wave will be financial and will catch people who have long forgotten their donations. He says Russia's financial monitoring systems are being improved and let security services trace old crypto transactions and sometimes identify the senders.