Report on Human Rights Violations in Chuvashia
August 2026
Ombudsman of Chuvashia Mikhail Oreshnikov
Preliminary identified episodes
1. Coercion of schoolchildren and teachers to participate in a mass event
On 16 August 2026, Chuvash schoolchildren and teachers were drawn into an event at the Spartak Stadium in Cheboksary on City Day through the use of administrative pressure. According to the Telegram channel ChuvashiaDream, the children were held on the stands for about six hours for the sake of a nice picture in the media, including during the rain, and the accompanying adults were given instructions not to let them leave the event regardless of their wishes and attempts to leave (even when they were freezing on the stands in the rain). Official work correspondence between the event organizers and the teachers has become known: “We are sitting on the stands cheerful, merry, and applauding loudly.”
By such actions the school administration violated several rights of the children under the Convention at once, first of all by unlawfully forcing them to perform the actual work of extras, not voluntarily, and under conditions that could harm their health. In addition, in this situation the labour rights of the teachers were violated, as they were summoned to conduct events with children on an unpaid day off.
https://t.me/s/ChuvashiaDream?before=17757
2. Unlawful forced agitation for the ruling party
Teachers of cadet schools in Chuvashia were forced to campaign free of charge for the ruling party. Such agitation took place during working hours instead of the teachers’ work with children, on the order of the school administration. According to the teaching staff themselves, the school administration gives them no opportunity to refuse this additional activity.
https://t.me/s/ChuvashiaDream/17678
3. Restriction of freedom of assembly and electoral rights
In August ChuvashiaDream reported the removal from the elections of the popular politician Nikolai Bondarenko — a candidate for the State Duma from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, former deputy of the Saratov Regional Duma and author of the YouTube channel “A Deputy’s Diary.” The formal reason for the removal from the elections was the publication of a photograph of Alexei Navalny that appeared in the channel of Bondarenko’s supporters. At the same time, no evidence was provided that the channel was run by the candidate for deputy himself or by people directly connected with him.
In connection with this unlawful deprivation of the right to participate in the elections, an application was submitted in Chuvashia for holding a rally for fair elections. The application for holding the rally was submitted for the second half of the day, but the authorities refused. In the end the action was approved for early morning. Nevertheless, despite the inconvenient time, about 50 people took part in the action.
Separately, a publication by “7×7” was discovered about a solitary picket by candidate Andrei Kazakov in the capital of Chuvashia, Cheboksary, on 21 August in support of Nikolai Bondarenko.
https://t.me/ChuvashiaDream/17884
https://t.me/ChuvashiaDream/17899
https://www.semnasem.org/news/2026/08/21/kandidat-v-deputaty-iz-chuvashii-provel-odinochnyj-piket-v-podderzhku-zaderzhannogo-nikolaya-bondarenko
https://activatica.org/content/0158288c-618b-4bcb-97c3-ba5f3069c4e0/v-cheboksarakh-i-penze-proshli-pikety-v-podderzhku-zaderzhannogo-kommunista-nikolaya-bondarenko
https://www.rbc.ru/politics/21/08/2026/6a889a2a9a794757cc08fce6
4. State blocking of Wikipedia
At the end of August “Serditaya Chuvashia” reported the blocking of Wikipedia on the territory of Chuvashia and, probably, on the territory of the entire Russian Federation. Now the educational website cannot be opened without the help of a VPN. One can only note yet another step in the organisation of a digital prison and the restriction of access to information for the Chuvash people, among others.