Worried that you could be held liable for donations made before an o...

Worried that you could be held liable for donations made before an organization was declared “extremist”? There is no such practice

In recent days, people have often been asking us whether they can be prosecuted for donations to organizations made before they were declared extremist or undesirable, the way people are prosecuted for old posts. That is not surprising: the state is constantly tightening legislation, and it is very difficult to understand what is prohibited and what is not.

OVD-Info’s lawyers explain what the actual practice of prosecuting donations to organizations with “extremist” status looks like.

▶️ Which donations do the authorities consider a crime? Under the law, liability for financing extremist activity (Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code) should apply to transfers made after the court decision banning the organization enters into force and information about this is officially published.

In addition, the Plenum of the Supreme Court clarified that a person must understand that the payment is intended for an extremist organization. It is impossible to understand this before the official publication of that information.

▶️ From what date are donations to OVD-Info considered a violation?

We consider that date to be June 4, 2026: on that day OVD-Info was added to the so-called Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists as an extremist organization. As early as June 5, OVD-Info was added to the Ministry of Justice’s list of extremist organizations.

At the same time, ruble donations have been disabled for us since March 2026, so if you supported us with ruble cards, there is no need to worry.

▶️ Doesn’t the law have retroactive force? Even in Russia, laws that establish or aggravate liability do not have retroactive force. This is set out in Article 54 of the Constitution and Article 10 of the Criminal Code.

▶️ Then why are people prosecuted for old posts?

Unlike donations, which are tied to the date of the transaction, internet publications are considered an ongoing offense. The authorities’ logic is this: as long as the publication remains available for viewing, the offense is taking place.

▶️ But aren’t FBK donors being prosecuted for old transfers?

This is a common myth. There is no practice of prosecuting transfers made to extremist and undesirable organizations before they were recognized as such.

People who donated to FBK are being prosecuted for transfers from Russian cards made from about August 5, 2021 through March 2022, when such cards stopped working for foreign payments. The decision banning FBK entered into force on August 4, 2021.

▶️ I still feel anxious. What should I do?

Take care of your digital security. We recommend:

deleting transaction emails and text messages with the name of the organization you supported before it was recognized as “extremist”;

deleting old posts from your social media calling on others to support the organization and information that you supported it;

setting a strong alphanumeric password on your phone and two-factor authentication on all accounts where this is possible.

🧡 If you still have worries, doubts, or questions about donations to OVD-Info, write to us at donate@ovdinfo.org. We strongly ask that you do this only from email addresses on non-Russian domains, for example Gmail or Proton. We remain by your side!

❗️ Please note that public reposts of this post may be treated as participation in “extremist” activity.