Our Mission

"If There Was No War" is an independent database of people subjected to politically motivated criminal prosecution in Russia. The database covers the period from 1993 to the present and contains information on more than 10,000 individuals. The public portion of the database is presented on this website.

Our goal is to compile the most comprehensive list of people against whom criminal prosecution is used not to protect the law, but as a tool of pressure, intimidation, and retention of power. We do not divide people by their views, beliefs, or methods of expressing protest. The project's mission is to document the facts of repression and demonstrate their scale, especially during wartime.

The list includes both those who opposed the war through peaceful means and those whom the state persecutes for other forms of resistance, as well as people accused of participating in hostilities on the side of Ukraine. We document reality as it exists, regardless of the wording of the charges.

The project aims to expose the absurdity and cruelty of the repressive system, where journalists and activists, elderly people and single mothers, ordinary citizens, and people who spoke a word or made an online post are subjected to criminal prosecution. Thousands of cases are built on provocations, denunciations, and fabrications, and severe sentences are handed down for actions that pose no real public danger.

Inclusion Criteria

The database includes cases that meet one or more of the following criteria:

1. Persecution directly related to Russia's war against Ukraine.
2. Cases under "political" articles of the Criminal Code (212.1, 284.1, 207.3, 280.3, etc.).
3. Charges of treason and espionage that are political in nature.
4. Persecution of politicians, public figures, journalists, and civil activists.
5. Criminal cases for speech: publications, comments, reposts, private conversations.
6. Persecution for belonging to organizations and associations declared "extremist" or effectively fictitious: Jehovah's Witnesses, Hizb ut-Tahrir, "undesirable organizations," "foreign agents," "citizens of the USSR," A.U.E., and others.
7. Criminal prosecution for refusal of military service.
8. Repressions aimed at preserving the existing regime: charges of sabotage, arson, "aiding Ukraine," etc.
9. Persecution of random individuals to simulate the fight against crime: fabricated cases of terrorism, extremism, and sabotage.

We document not only the fates of the persecuted but also information about those who participate in the repressive mechanisms — investigators, prosecutors, judges, and other representatives of the system.

The database is compiled using open sources: media reports, official press releases from government agencies, materials from Russian courts, and data from human rights organizations. Our approach is distinguished by the aspiration to reflect the broadest possible range of people subjected to political repression in Russia.