Russia’s wanted list. An updated and user‑friendly database

What we’ve published before

Mediazona first published a user-friendly, searchable database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ wanted list in February 2024. Back then, we were able to establish that Russia is actively seeking for “foreign mercenaries” in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We also found dozens of European politicians and officials wanted on criminal charges in Russia, including the Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas.

Several months later, we revealed that another national leader, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was added to the list, though the notice was quickly removed following our publication. The most probable explanation for this anomaly was that it represented a local initiative by the police department in occupied Donetsk.

Latest Update: Public Intellectuals, Nepalese Deserters, and Missing Persons in the Kursk Region (March 2024)

Overall statistics

From October 2024 to March 2025, 25,045 notices were added to the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ website , with 21,964 individuals being sought in connection to criminal cases (the rest are missing persons).

The number of notices which were deleted (after our initial publication) has risen from 19,765 to 30,649. This does not mean a wanted person has been detained or the criminal charges have been dropped. The exact reasons for these deletions are not always clear.

For example, on March 26, the Russian political scientist and public intellectual Ekaterina Schulmann was placed on the list. Labelled a “foreign agent” in 2022, she is a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, which Russia has, in turn, declared an “undesirable organisation.” The details of the criminal case against Schulmann have not been disclosed, and her name disappeared from the public wanted list the very next day.

The people who were added to the database in the latest update (since October 2024) are marked with a plus sign (+). Those removed since our initial publication the database are marked with an X.

Wanted celebrities

In addition to Shulmann, several more people declared “foreign agents” and subsequently persecuted have appeared on the wanted list over the past six months. These include Sergei Smirnov, editor-in-chief of Mediazona, and politician Ilya Yashin, who was part of the major prisoner exchange between Russia and the West in August 2024.

Foreigners in the AFU

The number of foreigners whom Russian investigators appear to be seeking due to their participation in the war on the Ukrainian side is now close to seven hundred (698): among them, 451 people from the “Rybar List” and 247 who have been mentioned in one way or another in connection with their service in the AFU.

Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs units established by Russia in the four partially occupied regions of Ukraine have also begun adding foreign nationals to the wanted list. For example, in Donetsk, Trevor Rowdy Reed, an American Marine who had already been convicted in absentia, is wanted again. He now has two separate wanted notices, with different spellings of his middle name, Rowdy: in Moscow, investigators transcribed it as Руди (Roodie), while their colleagues in Donetsk used Рауд (Rowd).

Nepalese deserters are being sought in Donetsk

In addition to newcomers from Western countries, the Ministry of Interior in the occupied Donetsk is also now looking for six Nepalese nationals (potential spelling errors may exist, as transliteration of foreign names into Russian by police can be inconsistent):

• Biplap Tamang, 21
• Ganesh Bahadur Thapa, 34
• Ram Kumar Pradhama, 38
• Bikram Bahadur Vaiba, 41
• Bhim Bahadur Chhetri, 44
• Kumar Shrestha, 45

As reported by Novaya Gazeta Europe, Russia has been recruiting mercenaries there en masse, so it could be a matter of tracking down defectors. Meanwhile, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry has banned its citizens from traveling to Ukraine too, as some of them might have joined the ranks of the AFU.

The list of “terrorists” and “extremists”

Starting with this update, we have added annotations where the full name and date of birth of the wanted person match the official list of “terrorists and extremists” maintained by Rosfinmonitoring, the official financial intelligence unit (just the match, we have not found more detailed information yet). Mediazona thanks Ivan Shukshin for providing the Rosfinmonitoring data.

Missing persons in the Kursk region

In addition to people wanted on criminal charges, the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also has information on missing persons. On August 6, 2024, Ukrainian troops crossed the border into Russia’s Kursk region and seized a part of the Sudzha district. Many local residents found themselves in the territories controlled by the AFU.

On August 21, the Ministry of Internal Affairs began adding missing persons from the Kursk region, mostly from Suzhda district, to the database en masse. By March 2025, when Ukrainian troops had almost completely left Russian territory, 1,254 local residents had been added to the database. It’s worth noting that the official figure quoted by the Kursk governor Alexander Khinshtein was higher, 1,900 people. Judging by the dates of birth, mostly older people (over 50) remained in the territories which had been seized by the Ukrainian army.

Belarusian citizens on Russia’s wanted list

As previously observed, the Russian Interior Ministry includes people sought by their colleagues from Belarus on its wanted list—including those sought for political reasons. In the five months since our previous update, more than 1,200 citizens and natives of Belarus have been put on the wanted list. Among them are former political prisoners, journalists, human rights defenders, and opposition activists.

The database

Just like before, we are publishing a complete searchable list of people who are wanted in Russia. You can search names in the database as a whole or in particular categories. The categories aren’t exhaustive, this effort aims to uncover and document politically motivated legal actions. If you notice something interesting that has escaped our attention, please contact Mediazona.

And a reminder: not appearing in the search results on either our tool or the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ website does not assure that a person is free from any criminal cases. This situation is akin to not having a certificate of no criminal record—it does not confirm the absence of legal actions.