Russian courts are using laws against incitement of hatred to punish statements not only about ethnic or religious groups, but also about government officials, security personnel and other categories of people. Court decisions have treated officials, Vladimir Putin's voters, Moscow residents and participants in public celebrations as protected "social groups."
The practice is examined in a Current Time investigation, published on October 26 and based on court rulings and research by the Sova Center.
According to rulings from 2025 examined by Sova, almost 15% of administrative cases involving incitement of hatred concerned statements about police officers and other members of security agencies.
Almost another 8% involved officials and politicians.
Those percentages refer to the sample of court documents examined by Sova, not to an independently verified analysis by Potok of every Russian court decision.
Article 20.3.1 of Russia's Code of Administrative Offenses establishes liability for acts aimed at inciting hatred or hostility, or humiliating human dignity, on specified grounds, including membership of a social group.
Russian legislation, however, does not provide an exhaustive definition of what constitutes a "social group."
In practice, the interpretation often depends on expert assessments used by investigators and courts.
Current Time cites examples of people being punished for harsh remarks about police officers, governors, representatives of political parties and other groups.
In February 2026, a court in St. Petersburg fined a man over a comment about a governor, treating governors as a social group capable of being targeted by hatred.
In September, a court in Lipetsk fined a regional lawmaker over an image featuring a snake bearing the United Russia party logo.
In another case, a court in the Tula region imposed a fine over a comment about residents of Belgorod that had been published back in 2010.
The journalists also describe rulings that treated supporters of particular political views, participants in Victory Day events, members of certain professions and other categories as protected social groups.
According to official judicial statistics cited by Sova, the number of decisions under Article 20.3.1 rose from 960 in 2023 to almost 1,200 in 2025.
Within the sample examined by the center, the proportion of decisions Sova considers unjustified increased from slightly more than 15% in 2023 to almost 23% in 2025.
That is the human rights research organization's assessment, not a legal finding made by a court in each of the cases concerned.
The Plenum of Russia's Supreme Court has previously clarified that criticism of political organizations, public figures and state institutions in connection with their activities should not, by itself, be treated as incitement of hatred or hostility.
Sova researchers argue that representatives of state authority should not automatically be regarded as a vulnerable social group requiring additional protection under anti-extremism legislation.
In the center's view, the lack of a clear definition of "social group" creates opportunities for an excessively broad application of these laws and restrictions on freedom of expression.