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On 18 December, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow remanded activist and representative of the Selkup people, an Indigenous group from Western Siberia, Daria Egereva, in custody on charges of participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation (Part 2, Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code). This was reported (1, 2) by the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia and the International Indian Treaty Council.

According to these organisations, Egereva was detained in Moscow early in the morning on 17 December. The International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia reports that, on the same day, another human rights activist was detained in Moscow on similar charges. Their name is not disclosed.

Security forces accuse Egereva of involvement in the informal association of experts on Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East, called ‘Aborigen Forum.’ The Centre for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North, which Egereva represented, was a member of this association.

In addition, FSB officers conducted searches and interrogations of human rights defenders and activists representing Indigenous Peoples in several more regions, including the Republic of Altai, Tomsk, Murmansk and Kemerovo regions, Altai and Krasnoyarsk territories, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), and St Petersburg.

In total, security forces showed up at the homes of at least 17 activists and human rights defenders, seizing their electronic devices. The list likely includes activist Alexey Chispyakov from Kemerovo region, south-western Siberia, whose search on the same day was reported by the ‘New Shoriya’ Telegram channel. In this case, too, security forces were interested in the ‘Aborigen Forum.’ This spring, Chispyakov spoke at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and criticised the Russian authorities.

Separately, in Murmansk region, north-western Russia, police searched the home of Valentina Sovkina, who in 2010 headed the Saami Parliament of the Kola Peninsula and is also a participant in the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

International organisations link Egereva’s persecution to her involvement in UN work on Indigenous issues. Among other things, as co-chair of the ‘International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change,’ she coordinated the body’s participation in the November 2025 UN Climate Change Conference.

The organisations demand that the activist be released immediately and that all charges against her be dropped. They are calling on UN representatives to join this appeal.

  • At the end of 2024, the Supreme Court declared the ‘Forum of Free States After Russia’ a terrorist organisation, together with over 170 other groups that the authorities called its “structural subdivisions.” Many of them were decolonial movements, including the ‘Aborigen Forum.’ As a result, it was added to the list of terrorist organisations.
  • Several months earlier, the ‘Aborigen Forum’ was also listed as an extremist organisation—this time as a “structural subdivision” of the non-existent “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement.” The authorities linked 55 organisations to this fictitious movement, most of which were also decolonial. At that time, the ‘Aborigen Forum’ ceased its activities. International organisations point out that the association’s members did not commit acts of violence and their activities were lawful and peaceful.
  • The Centre for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North, which Egereva represented, did not receive the status of an extremist or terrorist organisation.

The description of the activist’s work in the headline has been changed at their request