Russia designates Yellow Ribbon resistance movement as "extremist organization" and bans its activities
The court issued its decision following a lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, and held the hearing behind closed doors.
Designating the movement as an "extremist organization" enables the criminal prosecution of its participants under Russian legislation. Specifically, under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:
In addition, occupation security forces can press supplementary charges of "high treason."
Human rights advocates note that the Russian court's ruling creates additional grounds to persecute Ukrainians living in temporarily occupied territories.
"Both participants in the movement and people whom the occupiers suspect of supporting its activities could come under threat," the human rights advocates added.
Background
Yellow Ribbon is a civil resistance movement operating in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, established in April 2022 following the Russian military invasion to wage informational resistance against Russian occupiers.
The movement emerged in April 2022 in Russian-occupied territories. On April 25, movement coordinators used their Telegram channel to urge residents to hang Ukrainian flags and yellow ribbons on streets and in crowded places, and yellow ribbons appeared in temporarily occupied Kherson that very day.
Furthermore, movement participants stage symbolic protests against the Russian occupation and urge residents of temporarily occupied territories not to take part in illegal Russian "elections" and "referendums."
In 2022, representatives of the Yellow Ribbon movement were among the recipients of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize, awarded to the Ukrainian people for their struggle against Russian aggression.
It should be noted that the Yellow Ribbon movement announced a complete overhaul of its Telegram chatbot following a journalistic investigation that pointed out potential security risks for activists living under occupation.
The movement made the decision following the publication of an investigation that highlighted potential vulnerabilities in its recruitment system and security protocols.
Specifically, the Kyiv Independent published an investigation claiming that recruitment into Yellow Ribbon occurred via an unencrypted Telegram bot that offered very limited security protocols and made reviewing them optional.
As Rubryka previously reported, on so-called "Russia Day," the Yellow Ribbon resistance movement distributed pro-Ukrainian symbols in temporarily occupied Sevastopol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Melitopol, and other cities.
Notably, the majority of Ukrainians categorically oppose officially recognizing the occupation or ceding the country's territories to Russia. However, 43% of Ukrainians are prepared to accept Russia's de facto occupation of certain territories without legal recognition, provided Ukraine receives security guarantees.
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14 of November 2026
