Six years in prison looms for member of 'Citizens of the USSR' movement
A criminal case has been opened against a resident of Koryazhma in the Arkhangelsk region for alleged participation in the activities of an “extremist organisation”. If convicted, Irina Pechenkina, 52, faces up to six years in prison.
The case was announced on April 17 by the Investigative Committee of Russia and pro-government Telegram channels.
“According to the investigation, between 2022 and 2026 the suspect, as an active participant in an extremist organisation banned in the Russian Federation, promoted its ideology and unlawful activities during meetings with residents of Koryazhma and via the internet,” the Investigative Committee said.
Pro-government channels also published footage of Pechenkina’s detention, accompanied by insulting commentary and images of her drawings.
Pechenkina has previously faced administrative penalties linked to environmental activism. In March 2025, The Barents Observer reported that she had been detained for distributing leaflets calling for public discussion of plans to build a waste landfill near Koryazhma. According to the activist, she was held overnight by police, subjected to two strip searches and later sentenced to 20 hours of compulsory labour.
The “Citizens of the USSR” movement is an informal network built around the conspiracy theory that the Soviet Union continues to exist legally and that the Russian Federation lacks legitimacy. Its adherents typically reject the authority of Russian state institutions, including passports and courts, and describe themselves as “citizens of the USSR”.
In 2022, Russian authorities designated the movement as extremist following a ruling by the Samara Regional Court.
Since the ban, prosecutions of alleged participants have become increasingly common. The human rights group OVD-Info reported as early as June 2020 that more than ten criminal cases had been opened in the first six months of that year alone against individuals identifying as “citizens of the USSR”, involving at least nine defendants across various regions.
In subsequent years, courts have handed down custodial sentences in such cases. In the Bryansk region, five defendants were sentenced to between three years and three months and six years and three months in prison. In the Samara region, two individuals received sentences of three and four-and-a-half years. In Yekaterinburg, eleven people were sentenced in August 2024 to terms ranging from two to six years.
OVD-Info has also documented similar cases in Dagestan, Khakassia, the Kemerovo region, Altai and the Rostov region, among others.
