Search
Support

News

“The Other Russia”: Memorial – from remembrance of the Gulag to resistance to today’s regime. Exhibition

On 10 December, International Human Rights Day, the exhibition “The Other Russia: Memorial” has opened in the Seimas of Lithuania. It presents the history of the organisation awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (2022), which has moved from commemorating victims of Soviet terror to opposing today’s war and repressions. Despite pressure, the “foreign agent” label and its forced liquidation in Russia, Memorial continues to work as an institution of historical memory and civic responsibility. “In Russia, the Soviet regime, its institutions and its practices have never been recognised as criminal.

«Where is the human dimension in the peace plan?» – appeal to President Trump and to European leaders

«Where is the human dimension in the peace plan?» – Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, human rights and press freedom defenders, former political prisoners, and families of those still in detention and captivity appealed to President Trump and to European leaders. OPEN LETTER To: US President Donald Trump Leaders of European Union Member States The United Kingdom Prime Minister Türkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Your ExcellenciesAs high-level talks aimed at ending Russia’s war against Ukraine advance, we are writing on behalf of People1st Campaign.

“Return of the Names” in Vilnius

On October 29, in Vilnius, the event “Return of the Names” took place. We read the names of people who perished as a result of Soviet state terror! The commemorative action “Return of the Names” in memory of the victims of Soviet repressions was first held in 2007 at the Solovetsky Stone in Moscow on the initiative of International Memorial. Over time, it spread to different cities of Russia and the world. Hundreds of people stood in line and, taking turns, read aloud the names of those executed or exiled by Soviet authorities, as well as those who resisted Soviet repressions. For the fourth time already, “Return of the Names” is taking place in the context of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

Konstantin Morozov: leftists must seriously reflect on their past and their baggage and try to meet the challenges of the era

Konstantin Morozov – Doctor of Historical Sciences, associated researcher at EUR'ORBEM (Paris-Sorbonne/CNRS); head of the programme “History of the Struggle of Anti-Authoritarian Forces for Freedom in the Russian Empire and the USSR” of Historical and Educational Association ‘Memorial’-Vilnius answered on the questions of the «HISTORICAL EXPERTISE» journal.   Konstantin Morozov believes that it is impossible today to use thoughtlessly the term ‘left’ in a situation when it implies concepts and algorithms of political action that are not simply contradictory, but directly mutually exclusive, and even hostile.

Return respect for the rule of law and human rightsto international politics! Appeal by Russian human rights defenders

In the past weeks and months, the attention of Russian, Ukrainian, and international human rights defenders has been focused on negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Back in January 2025, addressing the parties and participants in the negotiations, human rights defenders drew attention to the situation of people: prisoners of war from both sides, illegally detained Ukrainian citizens, Ukrainian children brought to Russia, as well as Russian political prisoners. The international campaign ”People First”1 called for making their fate one of the priorities in the negotiations.

The Board of Memorial International Association on the anniversary of the Katyn massacre

85 years ago, in April-May of 1940, more than 14.5 thousand Polish prisoners of war were executed on the command of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, issued on March 5, 1940. The executed were army officers, policemen, members of the gendarmerie and border patrol agents who found themselves in Soviet custody after the Soviet invasion of Poland, which was agreed on with Hitler in September 1939. More than 7 thousand other Polish citizens were executed based on the same Politburo order. They were arrested in the spring of 1940 during a socio-political cleanse carried out on Soviet-occupied territories. It was the first crime of this caliber committed during World War II.

We hope that the work of Radio Liberty and Voice of America continues

On March 14, President Trump issued an executive order to cut funding for the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which curates news broadcasts in almost 50 languages for more than 350 million people weekly. This put Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America under threat of liquidation.  The legality of this order, which shows the executive branch of the government overriding the legislative branch, is to be assessed by American courts.

Statement by the board of Memorial International Association on the third anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine

24 February 2022 stands alongside 1 September 1939, and 22 June 1941—not necessarily in scale, but by degree of treachery. For three years, the Ukrainian Army has been heroically fighting an adversary with vastly superior economic potential and human resources. Vladimir Putin, the Russian dictator is prepared to continue the war, to persist in the killing of thousands of innocent Ukrainian civilians—children, the elderly, and women. This dictator is willing to further destroy civilian infrastructure, erase Ukrainian culture and history.

Statement of the International Memorial Association Board on the 85th anniversary of the USSR’s expulsion from the League of Nations

85 years ago, on December 14, 1939, the Soviet Union was excluded from the League of Nations. This was a consequence of the Soviet attack on Finland on November 30, 1939. On December 4, in response to a request from the Secretary General of the League of Nations, the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov claimed that the Soviet Union was neither at war with Finland nor a threat to the Finnish people, citing a Treaty of Mutual Assistance and Friendship signed by the USSR and the government of the Democratic Republic of Finland (FDR), which had been established a day before. From the point of view of the USSR, it was undertaking joint efforts with the FDR to eliminate the hotbed of war created in Finland by its former rulers.

International Memorial calls for support for the KARTA Center in Poland

The KARTA Center in Poland issued a statement revealing that the center is on the verge of bankruptcy and about to cease its activities. Its board and staff notify that, since June 2024, it has been difficult for the organization to finance its projects and publications and to pay for maintaining its premises. The staff of KARTA Center have not received salaries for two months and yet continue to work, as they stay true to its main goal of documenting and popularizing history. The KARTA Center is the oldest non-governmental organization in the country, which, along with the Solidarity movement, has become emblematic of a free, independent and democratic Poland.