For a sustainable peace, Russia must fundamentally change
An interview with Alexandra Polivanova, a human rights activist with Memorial. Interviewer: Clara Sandgren
June 23, 2026 -
Alexandra Polivanova
Clara Sandgren
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Hot TopicsIssue 4 2026Magazine
Photo courtesy of Alexandra Polivanova
CLARA SANDGREN: In April 2026, your organization, Memorial, was labelled an extremist organization. How has this impacted your work?
ALEXANDRA POLIVANOVA: The events surrounding Memorial that took place in April 2026 should be understood in the broader context of the escalating persecution of Memorial and the wider crackdown on civil society in Russia over the past two decades. The systematic campaign against independent civil society organizations intensified after Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency in 2012. However, at that stage, while organizations were increasingly restricted in their activities, they were still allowed to exist. It was only after the Bolotnaya protests when the regime introduced the “foreign agents” law, which came into force in November 2012 that the repressions intensified. In many ways, the law appeared to have been written with Memorial specifically in mind. Between 2013 and 2015, several regional branches of Memorial were added to the “foreign agents” registry. In 2016, the International Memorial network was also designated as a “foreign agent”. By 2020, nearly all the Memorial organizations operating in Russia had been blacklisted.
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human rights, Memorial, Russia
