OUT OF SIGHT,
NOT OUT OF REACH
The Global Scale and Scope
of Transnational Repression
CASE STUDIES
Russia
Protesters gather in Vienna after the killing of vocal Chechen government critic “Martin B.” Austrian police arrested two Russians from Chechnya for the
fatal shooting. Image credit: Alex Halada/AFP via Getty Images.
T
he Russian government conducts highly aggressive
transnational repression activities abroad. Its
campaign, which heavily relies on assassination as a tool,
targets former insiders and others who are perceived as
threats to the regime’s security. The government pairs
this campaign with control over key cultural institutions
operating abroad, in an effort to exert influence over
the Russian diaspora. Unlike other states profiled in this
report, however, the government does not use coercive
measures against the Russian diaspora as a whole. Instead,
it focuses on repressing activism within its own borders
and on maintaining control of the domestic information
environment to ensure that exiles do not reach domestic
audiences. 177 Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen
Republic, represents a significant exception by employing
a brutal direct campaign to control the Chechen diaspora;
his campaign is a unique example of a subnational regime
operating its own transnational repression campaign.
The Russian campaign accounts for 7 of 26 assassinations or
assassination attempts since 2014, as catalogued in Freedom
House’s global survey. It is also responsible for assaults,
detentions, unlawful deportations, and renditions in eight
countries, mostly in Europe. Of the 32 documented physical
cases of Russian transnational repression, a remarkable 20
have a Chechen nexus.
The Kremlin
Since coming to power in 2000, Russian president Vladimir
Putin has engaged in an ongoing subversion campaign in
Europe and the United States, using tactics short of war.
freedomhouse.org
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