Bank accounts of cultural artists who have moved abroad in Russia are being frozen based on an unofficial list and without any notification. The blocking decisions are made by the inter-ministerial commission created to combat the financing of terrorism and extremist activities.
Political scientist Yekaterina Şulman brought up the issue on her July 14 program, revealing that the accounts were blocked secretly. According to Şulman, the affected individuals predominantly come from the circles of the 'SlovoNovo' festival and the 'Dar' literary award.
The festival's founder Marat Gelman told the 'Ajans' news site that the restrictions affect about a hundred people linked to 'SlovoNovo'. Gelman argued that this only poses a problem for 15-20 people who have assets in Russia, and noted that some of those whose accounts were blocked had already been labeled 'foreign agents' or 'extremists'.
The first person to publicly announce that her account was blocked was poet Anna Russ. Russ, who participated in the 'SlovoNovo' festival in 2025, said that access to her account was blocked. Two anonymous festival participants who spoke to the BBC Russian Service confirmed a similar situation. These individuals are neither on the 'foreign agent' list nor on the terrorist list, and there is no criminal investigation against them.
2025 law gave the commission broad powers
The inter-ministerial commission's authority to freeze accounts came with a law passed in July 2025. The law, which is stated to have been enacted to 'strengthen infrastructure security', allows the freezing of assets without a court order or an open case, upon suspicion of involvement in 'disloyalty' activities.
Lawyer Yevgeniy Smirnov stated that according to the law, the commission's decisions must be published, but since the commission doesn't even have a website, it is impossible to access these decisions. Smirnov said they have been encountering similar cases for the last six to seven months.
The 'SlovoNovo' festival has been held since 2018 and was declared a 'foreign agent' in Russia in 2025. The festival's founder Marat Gelman has been on the 'foreign agent' list since 2021 and was added to Rosfinmonitoring's list of terrorists and extremists in 2024. The 'Dar' literary award, established in 2024, was also added to the 'foreign agent' registry a year later.
In June, Russia adopted yet another law allowing the confiscation of assets of individuals who have settled abroad and committed administrative offenses against the state. According to the regulation set to take effect in September, actions such as insulting the president, 'discrediting' the army, or calling for sanctions can be used as grounds to seize accounts and property until the fine is paid.
