Fletcher Russia and Eurasia Program 114 Curtis Street, Somerville, Massachusetts, United States

Please join the Fletcher Eurasia Club for a lunch seminar with Stanislav Stanskikh, a former Fletcher visiting scholar, who will explore the mechanisms of political repression in contemporary Russia.

Stanskikh will frame the conversation around the current state of political repression in Russia and how the country’s system of political control has evolved during the war—from forced mobilization and the criminalization of Navalny’s supporters to the ongoing persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He will examine the tools of repression used by the Russian government to suppress dissent and enforce ideological conformity. In addition, Stanskikh will share his experience as an expert witness in U.S. immigration courts, offering insight into how U.S. adjudicators approach Russian country conditions in asylum proceedings. He will also discuss the current position of the U.S. Department of State on human rights practices in Russia, situating his analysis within the broader international understanding of the country’s political climate.

To gain a deeper understanding of the issues discussed, participants are encouraged to review the U.N. reports on human rights (https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session60/advance-version/a-hrc-60-59-aev.pdf) and torture (https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/291/80/pdf/n2429180.pdf); the U.S. reports on human rights practices for 2023 (https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/russia/) and 2024 (https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/russia/), and religious freedom (https://www.uscirf.gov/countries/russia) in Russia; as well as recent assessments by Amnesty International (https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/europe-and-central-asia/eastern-europe-and-central-asia/russia/report-russia/), HRW (https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/russia), and Freedom House (https://freedomhouse.org/country/russia) reports.

Stanislav Stanskikh is an expert on Russia’s constitutional system, human rights practices, and political repression. Affiliated with Harvard’s Davis Center (https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/about/people/stanislav-stanskikh) and UNC CSEEES (https://cseees.unc.edu/current-fellows-2/stanskikh-stanislav/), he has combined his academic work with expert testimony on Russian country conditions in asylum cases before USCIS and U.S. immigration courts. Over the years, his research has focused on the mechanism of political repression in the USSR and contemporary Russia; evolution of Russia’s constitutional system, including its origins, model of justice, separation of powers, and federalism; as well as on the assessment of Russian legislation and practice of its implementation by international organizations, such as the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and the European Court of Human Rights.