At the turn of 2021/2022, almost simultaneously with the start of the full-scale military aggression against Ukraine and the introduction of new censorship laws in Russia, the Russian Supreme Court dissolved the International Memorial. Members and staff of the liquidated International Memorial who left Russia, together with European Memorial organizations, established the International Memorial Association in 2023 under Swiss jurisdiction in order to continue their work in exile, under conditions of war.
A dictatorial regime is incompatible with a living, independent civil society—and therefore seeks to destroy it everywhere and by all possible means. It is incompatible with the idea of the supreme value of human life and dignity, and with a critical view of the state. Human rights and peace are universal values. The crimes of the USSR in the past and the contemporary crimes of the Russian Federation have affected millions of people in many countries—not only in Russia.
We, an alliance of Memorial organizations from different countries, continue our work outside Russia. Memorial is not about “legal entities”: it is a struggle for memory and for freedom, a struggle for peace and for human rights. And society cannot be deprived of its memory.
18 February 2026
Board of the International Memorial Association
