Russia freezes assets of roughly 100 people linked to émigré cultural events without court order

Russian authorities have begun freezing bank accounts and property without a court order or even an open criminal case, reportedly using a “secret list” of alleged “terrorists and extremists”.

Those affected have included participants of the SlovoNovo Russian culture festival and the Dar literary prize, independent outlet Agentstvo reported, citing gallerist Marat Gelman and political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann.

Schulmann discussed the issue on her show Status, saying Russia has started freezing cultural figures' assets without notifying them, reportedly based on a “secret list” of alleged “terrorists and extremists”. She noted that such decisions are made by the Interdepartmental Commission for Countering the Financing of Terrorism, a body created by presidential decree in 2015.

Gelman, who also organises SlovoNovo, told Agentstvo that around 100 people have had their accounts frozen, but that the measure has become a genuine problem only for the 15–20 of them who still have assets in Russia.

“The rest no longer have anything left in the country, and some of them were designated 'foreign agents' or 'extremists' long ago,” he added.

Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer with the human rights group Department One, said the commission was granted the authority a year ago to freeze accounts and property without a court verdict or an open criminal case. He noted that while the commission is required to publish its decisions, it has no website, and the information doesn't appear on the platforms of Russia’s financial monitoring agency.

Lawyers have been encountering such cases for the past six months, according to Smirnov. He added that a freezing order can be appealed in court, but assets stay frozen until hearings begin, and the grounds for the restriction may never be disclosed.

Dar, an international prize for literature written in Russian, was established in 2024 by writer Mikhail Shishkin and is held annually in Switzerland. Last year, Russia's Justice Ministry added it to its registry of “foreign agents.”

SlovoNovo, a festival of Russian culture held annually in Montenegro, was founded in 2018 by Gelman. It has also been designated a “foreign agent” in Russia, and Gelman himself appears on two Russian government blacklists: “foreign agents” and “terrorists and extremists.”