Anti-Corruption Foundation statement on lifting sanctions and freeing politic...

❗️ Statement by the Anti-Corruption Foundation on lifting sanctions and freeing political prisoners

We welcome any real efforts aimed at freeing Russian political prisoners.

It recently became known that the U.S. administration is considering easing sanctions against Russia in exchange for the release of those persecuted on political grounds. It is still unclear whether this idea will become the subject of real negotiations and what they might lead to. But if such a window of opportunity opens, it must be used to secure the release of as many people as possible.

We believe that such negotiations cannot be limited to lists of individual names. In Russia, hundreds of people are imprisoned for anti-war statements, peaceful protest, support for the opposition, donations to organizations declared “extremist” by the authorities, and other forms of peaceful political activity. Far from all political cases become public, so we believe it is simply impossible to compile a complete list of political prisoners in Russia.

Moreover, after some political prisoners are released, the Russian authorities will be able to open new cases under the same laws the very next day, which means that such a deal would not truly solve the problem.

That is why we propose a different principle: sanctions relief should be tied not only to the release of individual people, but also to the repeal of repressive provisions in Russian law and the termination of whole categories of politically motivated criminal cases.

Decriminalizing Articles 207.3 and 280.3 of the Russian Criminal Code, known as the articles on “military fakes” and “discrediting the army,” would mean freeing the people convicted under them, closing already opened cases, and making it impossible to open new cases under these articles.

The same principle should apply to politically motivated prosecutions under articles on “extremism,” “financing extremism,” “justifying terrorism,” and similar provisions, when peaceful political activity, donations, words, and beliefs are declared criminal offenses.

Sanctions are one of the few real levers of pressure on the Kremlin that democratic countries have. If the sanctions regime is eased, it is important that every such decision be accompanied by concrete, verifiable, and long-term changes inside Russia. The chance to achieve these changes must not be missed, just as sanctions relief must not be traded away for symbolic concessions.

We will work to ensure that any such negotiations bring the greatest possible benefit to Russian civil society.

❗️ Navalny Team