At least 100 dead people still on Russia’s terrorist and extremist register, investigation reveals

At least 100 of the 20,000 people deemed by the Russian government to be “terrorists and extremists” are dead, according to an investigation published by independent Russian media outlet Meduza on Wednesday.

By cross referencing data from a Russian federal register of probate cases with the official register of terrorists and extremists hosted on the website of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring (Rosinformmonitoring), Meduza found that at least 100 individuals who remain on the register had died.

The outlet said that the real number of deceased “terrorists and extremists” could actually be far higher, as in many cases probate proceedings are not opened, especially when individuals are on lists that criminalise their existence.

Anyone accused of terrorism or extremism in Russia, even if they are ultimately acquitted, has their name automatically added to the list, disqualifying them from a wide range of financial activities, including making transactions, buying or selling property, or receiving an inheritance.

Anybody added to the list also has their assets and bank accounts frozen and their bank cards blocked.

Among those known to be dead who remain on the list is former Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who was killed in February 2024 while serving multiple prison sentences in a penal colony in the Russian Arctic.

Following a request from Yulia Navalnaya that her husband’s name be removed from the register, Roninformmonitoring responded that Navalny’s name would remain on the register until the various criminal cases against him had been dropped, despite the law clearly stating that a death certificate is sufficient grounds for removal.

In one case discovered by Meduza, Ruslan Yakhyayev, a 32-year-old Chechen man who died in 2000 and whose probate proceedings were opened in 2021, was posthumously added to the register in 2023, where he remains to this day.