Russia Claims Human Rights Situation in Ukraine Is Grave

Moscow. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, accusing the Kiev government of serious violations related to civil rights, language rights, religious freedom and historical memory.

In its report titled “On the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine,” released in May 2026, Russia claimed that the human rights situation in Ukraine has sharply deteriorated. The report states that systematic human rights violations are taking place in various spheres of public life in Ukraine.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the main reason for the deterioration of human rights in Ukraine is the current political leadership in Kiev. The report accuses the Ukrainian leadership of distorting history, glorifying Nazism, suppressing the Russian language and culture, promoting hatred against Russian citizens and Russian-speaking communities, and increasing pressure on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The report also claims that the Ukrainian leadership is prolonging the war in order to continue receiving financial and military assistance from Western countries. Russia accused Western nations of turning a blind eye to human rights problems, extremist nationalist ideology and crimes in Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry alleged that the glorification of Nazism is taking place at the state level in Ukraine. The report describes the recognition of members and leaders of the OUN and UPA, Ukrainian nationalist military formations from the Second World War, as independence fighters as a distortion of history. It also claims that legal liability has been introduced for negative assessments of the activities of these organizations.

Another major point in the Russian report concerns restrictions on the Russian language. Russia accused the Kiev government of legally strengthening the dominant role of the Ukrainian language in public life while reducing opportunities for the use of other languages. The report states that Russian is the native language of millions of Ukrainian citizens, and is used not only by ethnic Russians but also by Belarusians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Jews, Greeks, Hungarians and representatives of other communities.

Russia also accused Ukraine of promoting intolerance toward Russian-speaking communities, Russian culture and Russian citizens. The report claims that hostile expressions against the Russian language and Russian culture have regularly appeared in public media, and that such activities have involved even state leadership.

Similarly, the report alleges that a systematic pressure and discrediting campaign has been launched against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that an information campaign has been carried out to portray priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as “accomplices of the enemy.” It also states that numerous cases of forcible seizures of church buildings belonging to the canonical Church have been recorded.

The report concludes that the situation in Ukraine regarding civil rights, religious freedom, language rights and the protection of historical memory has become more serious, deepening divisions within society.

Russia drew the attention of the international community to the human rights situation in Ukraine, claiming that Western countries’ policy of support for the Kiev leadership has prolonged the crisis rather than helping to resolve it.

Due to the Ukraine war, relations between Russia and Western countries have remained deeply tense for a long time. Against this backdrop, the report released by Russia has once again brought debates over Ukraine’s human rights situation, Western support, accusations of Nazism, language policy and religious freedom to the surface.