LONDON — Russia's Supreme Court designated human rights group Memorial as an "extremist" movement on Thursday, a move the group said marked a new phase of oppression in the country.
The ruling - the latest in a sweeping, years-long crackdown on free speech in Russia - provides a new legal mechanism for authorities to prosecute anyone who contributes to the work of the Nobel Prize-winning organisation, donates to it or shares material that it publishes.
After the closed-door hearing, the Supreme Court said Memorial's activities within Russia were banned with immediate effect.
They "are clearly anti-Russian in nature and are aimed at destroying the basic foundations of Russian statehood, violating its territorial integrity, and eroding historical, cultural, spiritual, and moral values," it said in a statement.
Memorial, whose own lawyer was not allowed to attend the hearing, condemned the ruling and vowed to continue its work from outside Russia.
"This unlawful decision marks a new stage of political pressure on Russian civil society," it said in a statement.
Independent Russian newspaper faces search
In a separate development on Thursday, Russia's best-known independent news outlet, Novaya Gazeta, said masked security officers were searching its Moscow office. State media said the investigation was into illegal use of personal data.
In a statement on Telegram, the newspaper said it did not know the reason for the operation, and that its lawyers were not being allowed into the building.
State news agency RIA quoted law enforcement officials as saying that the search was linked to an investigation into the illegal use of personal data. Russia has tightened its censorship laws and increased pressure on independent media since it launched its war in Ukraine in 2022.
Novaya Gazeta is one of Russia's best-known investigative news outlets. Its editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov was co-winner of the 2021 Nobel peace prize, and dedicated the award to six of his paper's journalists who were murdered for their work.
Muratov was designated in 2023 as a "foreign agent", a label that the authorities apply to individuals and organisations they deem to be conducting anti-Russian activity with support from abroad.
Russia detains former Radio Free Europe freelancer for treason
Russia's Federal Security Service said on Thursday that it had detained a former Radio Free Europe freelance journalist on suspicion of treason for passing information to Ukrainian intelligence.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said the man, whose name it did not disclose, was accused of high treason for purportedly cooperating with Ukraine's SBU intelligence service.
Richard Engel attends an underground concert in war-torn Ukraine
There was no immediate comment from Kyiv or Radio Free Europe, and the FSB did not say whether the detained man had denied or admitted the accusations against him.
In footage released on social media, FSB officers in masks were shown knocking on the man's door and entering for a search of his apartment. The video showed the FSB lining up 21 old memory sticks and two mobile phones and reading him his rights.
The FSB said the man, a resident of Chita in eastern Siberia who was born in 1960, had supplied information via Telegram to Ukrainian intelligence on a local print publication and about a critical infrastructure object in the region.
"The information received by the special services of Ukraine was used to carry out computer attacks on these facilities, which temporarily hampered the authorities from performing their duties," the FSB said in a statement.
"The FSB once again draws attention to the fact that all persons who have consented to assist the enemy will be identified, brought to criminal responsibility and will receive the harsh punishment they deserve," it said.
