On March 24, Russia’s State Duma passed in its second and third readings amendments introducing criminal liability for those engaging in the denial of the “genocide of the Soviet people,” as well as for desecrating the graves and memorials of its victims. The amendments will expand the scope of a 2025 article on the rehabilitation of Nazism, which already explicitly classifies as criminal offenses the “denial of the fact of the genocide of the Soviet people or approval of the genocide of the Soviet people.”
Denial of the “genocide of the Soviet people” will now carry the same penalties as the article on the rehabilitation of Nazism. Under the basic provision, that means a fine of up to 3 million rubles ($37,200), or forced labor or imprisonment for up to three years. However, if such acts are committed under aggravating circumstances — for example, through the use of an official position, by a group of people, or through the media or the internet — the punishment becomes harsher: a fine of up to 5 million rubles ($62,100), or forced labor or imprisonment for up to five years.
At the same time, the article on the destruction and desecration of military burial sites is being broadened. It will now include the graves of victims of the “genocide of the Soviet people” and memorials to them, while also creating a separate criminal offense for damaging or desecrating them. The maximum penalty in such cases is up to five years in prison.
According to the explanatory note, the law is intended to “eliminate a legal gap,” as the Nuremberg Tribunal’s verdict did not use the term “genocide,” which has made it harder to prosecute these acts under the existing article on the rehabilitation of Nazism. The authors of the initiative also say the amendments are needed to protect “historical memory” and counter its “distortion.”
The law expands on provisions of a 2025 law on preserving the memory of victims of the “genocide of the Soviet people” and in effect places their legal protection on a par with the protection of the memory of participants in World War II.
