The Moscow Human Rights Bureau reviewed cases involving violations of the rights of Russians abroad and reached sobering findings: in 2022 there was a notable rise in fundamental rights violations against citizens of the Russian Federation. This assessment is based on a report from TASS describing violations of the rights of Russian citizens and compatriots abroad in 2022.
Experts from the Bureau observed that the pattern of rights violations against Russians in Western countries and their close partners continued in recent years, but it intensified in 2022.
Persecution tied to nationality, language, and ethnic origin, which had appeared sporadically earlier, grew into a broad, systematic phenomenon over the past year. Anti-Russian sentiment has become a mainstream factor shaping both domestic and foreign policies in many Western states.
The Moscow Bureau of Human Rights notes that the majority of rights violations against Russians abroad occur in Western countries, where the abuses are complex, systemic, and widespread. The report also highlights that Ukraine and its allied states are part of this dynamic as described by the authors.
The document emphasizes that in the context of the West’s confrontation with Russia, actions against Russian citizens, their lives, freedoms, dignity, property, and civil rights represent a distinct front of aggression against Russian society. Experts interpret the rising violations of Russian rights as a deliberate policy intended to inflict maximum harm on Russia. This framing calls for an objective, independent assessment and the authors advocate using the full range of legal, political, economic, and informational tools available.
As part of their guidance, human rights advocates urge Russians to shed light on the realities of these abuses. They especially favor broad consideration of the crimes attributed to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukrainian nationalists, and mercenaries against Russian citizens in Donbass, Zaporozhye, Kherson, and other Russian regions.
Following the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, Russian nationals faced repeated assaults in several European countries. The aggressors were often Ukrainian refugees and long-term residents of the EU. Incidents were triggered by Russian language sounds on the street, visible Russian license plates, or clothing bearing the Russian flag colors.
Instances of vandalism targeting objects associated with Russia became more common in Western Europe and the Baltic states. In Latvia, paint was splashed on a monument to Red Army soldiers who liberated Riga from German occupation. In Bulgaria, a similar act affected the 11-meter Alyosha statue, a monument to a Soviet liberator soldier.
In the spring, a memorial complex in Slovakia, where thousands of Soviet soldiers are buried, was painted in Ukrainian flag colors. In Poland, authorities moved to remove remaining Soviet monuments from public space, signaling a shift in memorial policy.
Andrey Suzdaltsev, Deputy Dean at the Higher School of Economics, remarked that European political elites have established a pattern of treating Russians as adversaries. He noted that in former socialist bloc countries, anti-Russian hostility has often been a driving political ideology.
In June, a report from the Russian Foreign Ministry described a sharp deterioration in the rights situation for Russian citizens and compatriots abroad in 2022. Diplomatic officials highlighted widespread discrimination, including against children with Russian citizenship or Russian heritage, with reports of classroom bullying, psychological pressure at schools, and barriers to learning that were tolerated by educators and institutions. The wave of attacks on Russian diplomatic missions was viewed as a coordinated action linked to its large and organized network, recalling the assault on Ambassador Sergei Andreev in Warsaw in May during a ceremony at a cemetery honoring Soviet soldiers.