The Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin has completed an “audit” of the work of the Interagency Commission on Establishing the Fact of Deprivation of Personal Liberty.

Our organization has completed a public expert review of the activities of the Interagency Commission on Establishing the Fact of Deprivation of Personal Liberty under the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine. Work on the review lasted about three months – from September to December 2025. The review was conducted in accordance with Order No. 1420 of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development dated 23 September 2025.

We analyzed the Commission’s work, its decision-making procedures, and the implementation of budget programs. The review identified a number of systemic problems:
– tens of thousands of civilians illegally deprived of their liberty by Russia have still not been recognized by the state and do not receive adequate social protection;
– the current Law does not cover the scale of persecution after 2022, as a result of which most victims are effectively excluded from the circle of those eligible for assistance;
– 30–50% of released civilians receive refusals to recognize the fact of deprivation of liberty due to complex, non-transparent, and practically unattainable requirements under occupation, which deepens inequality, social vulnerability, and distrust in state institutions.

Based on the results of the review, we prepared concrete solutions and draft regulatory acts aimed at overcoming the identified problems.

This week, we officially submitted the review to the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development. We expect their feedback in the coming weeks. On December 18, a press event will take place at which we will present the analytical report and outline the key findings of the public expert review.

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