Russia's Launches Registry for "Enemies of the People”

Key Takeaways

• Russia's Justice Ministry has launched a public registry of people convicted in absentia by Russian courts who are living abroad — stripping them of legal rights, including frozen bank accounts, bans on real estate transactions, and exclusion from government digital services.
• Vladimir Putin signed the enabling law on August 4th, 2026; it took effect the same day. The registry went live on August 21st.
• In its current test version, the database contains exactly one entry: a fictional 25-year-old named Pyotr Petrovich Petrov — a placeholder name used to demonstrate what each real entry will contain.
• State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin signaled while the bill was being debated that authorities intend to use it for the political persecution of dissenters.

Russia's Launches Registry for "Enemies of the People”

Russia's Justice Ministry has launched a public registry targeting people who were convicted in absentia by Russian courts but live abroad and are evading punishment — stripping them of legal rights in Russia while they remain outside the country, according to reporting by Meduza.

Putin signed the enabling law on August 4th, 2026; it took effect the same day. The registry went live on August 21st.

In its current test phase, the database contains exactly one entry: a fictional 25-year-old named Pyotr Petrovich Petrov, born in Novosibirsk, listed under Article 19.34 of Russia's Code of Administrative Offenses — the provision covering violations of "foreign agent" rules. He doesn't exist. He's a placeholder demonstrating what the registry will look like when real names are added.

Based on the test version, each entry will list the person's full name, date and place of birth, taxpayer ID number, and social insurance number. It will also include the number of a special ruble account into which any income the listed person earns in Russia will be forcibly transferred. Meduza describes the registry as a de facto list of "enemies of the people."

What Being Listed Actually Means

The restrictions that come with registry inclusion are wide-ranging. Frozen bank accounts in Russia. Bans on selling real estate or vehicles. Loss of access to the Gosuslugi portal — Russia's main government digital services platform, used for everything from tax filings to passport applications. Loss of online banking access. Bans on obtaining certain consular services, including a passport for foreign travel.

The law targets people who have left Russia and been convicted in absentia under any article of Russia's Criminal Code, or under "political" articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

That last category is notable: "foreign agent" violations, the kind under which Pyotr Petrovich Petrov's fictional entry is listed, have been applied to journalists, opposition politicians, NGOs, and ordinary people who spoke critically of the government or the war in Ukraine.

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin was explicit while the bill was under consideration: authorities intend to use the registry for the political persecution of dissenters. That's not a critic's characterization. That's the Duma Speaker describing the intended purpose of the law he was voting for.

The Digital Rights Dimension

There's a specific dimension of this law that belongs in the internet freedom conversation: the loss of access to digital government services as a punishment.

Gosuslugi is Russia's centralized digital government platform. It handles tax filings, pension registrations, document applications, property records, and dozens of other functions that used to require in-person visits to government offices. Russia has invested heavily in centralizing those services digitally — and the registry law turns that centralization into a mechanism of exclusion. 

Being listed doesn't just freeze your bank account. It erases your ability to interact with Russian government systems remotely, which for people living abroad is often the only interaction they can have.

This is the same dynamic we've tracked in the statelessness article: when governments concentrate essential services into digital identity infrastructure, they get the power to revoke your access to those services as a form of punishment or control. Russia is using that power explicitly and by design. The fictional Petrov entry shows exactly how the system will work when real names appear — and the law that requires those names to appear is already in force.

We've covered Russia's censorship escalation, its VPN blocking campaigns, and the surveillance infrastructure that tracks dissidents across platforms.

This registry is a different instrument pointing in the same direction: a state systematically using the tools of digital administration to extend its reach over citizens who have left its physical jurisdiction.