Rights group Memorial reports at least 69 victims of political repression have died in Russia since 2022, 20 after torture or beatings

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, at least 69 individuals have been victims of politically motivated persecution, according to the Memorial human rights group. Twenty of these deaths resulted from torture and beatings, as detailed in Memorial's report "Never to See Freedom." The report, released on October 29 during the "Returning the Names" annual remembrance event, also covers deaths in pretrial detention centers, penal colonies, and during searches, house arrests, or shortly after release.

Among the 69 fatalities, 63 were men and six were women, with an average age of 51. The youngest victim was 18-year-old Ukrainian Daniil Dakhov and Pavel Grimak, abducted by Russian security forces in occupied Melitopol, while the oldest was 81-year-old scientist Valery Mitko, accused of treason and deceased while under house arrest.

Illness and a lack of timely medical care were identified as the leading causes of death in 29 cases. Ten individuals are believed to have died by suicide or in circumstances resembling suicide, with the causes of eight deaths remaining unknown. The report separately examines the death of pianist Pavel Kushnir, who passed away after a hunger strike, and opposition politician Alexei Navalny's murder in an Arctic penal colony.

Memorial's data does not encompass all deaths during Russian security service operations since February 2022, as calculated by the independent investigative outlet Important Stories, which cites 87 killings by the Federal Security Service (FSB) between the war's start and July 2026. Memorial's figures include cases where security officers and prison staff failed to address prisoners' complaints due to illness and the absence of necessary medical care.

In one instance, 64-year-old Oleg Tyryshkin was sentenced to two years in a penal colony over a VK post, only to die in a hospital two years later after a heart attack. Another case involved 46-year-old Sergei Sviridov, who suffered from a progressive form of cancer and was denied release multiple times by courts citing lack of family care.

He died in a hospice two weeks after falling into a coma. The report also highlights Ukrainian citizens detained by Russian security forces, with journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna being among those who died after being held in Russian detention facilities, with signs of torture and missing internal organs found upon her body's return to Ukraine.