Russian courts handed down 1,865 guilty verdicts under terrorism-related provisions of criminal law against at least 2,013 people from January through September 2026, according to a study by the rights group First Department and Parubets Analytics. The number of verdicts was 5% higher than the 1,776 recorded for the whole of 2025.
The number rose each quarter: 449 verdicts involving 483 people in January–March, 696 involving 751 people in April–June, and 720 involving 779 people in July–September. July was the peak month, with 295 verdicts. A single verdict can cover several defendants, which is why the number of rulings differs from the number of people convicted.
Most of the cases examined concerned offences other than directly carrying out terrorist attacks, including charges relating to public statements, financial transfers and alleged assistance to terrorist activity. Among cases involving a single terrorism-related charge, Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code—public calls for, justification of or propaganda of terrorism—was the most common: 785 people were convicted under it in the nine-month period. Its share of single-charge cases fell to 49.5% in the third quarter, while the share involving Article 205.1, assistance to terrorist activity, rose to 14.8%.
The researchers counted 2,054 cases received by the courts during the nine months and 1,947 proceedings concluded, including outcomes other than guilty verdicts. Separately, they identified at least 59 people subjected to compulsory medical measures. These figures cannot simply be added to the verdict count. The median time between a case reaching court and the verdict fell from 47 days in the first quarter to 37 days in the third, the researchers found.
The study also found a concentration of cases in district military courts. The Southern District Military Court issued 682 verdicts, and together with the Second Western District Military Court accounted for 1,152. The Southern court also hears criminal cases originating in occupied Ukrainian territories. Names were withheld in the published court records for 1,312 of the 2,013 convicted people, or 65.2%.