In most cases, historians assert that there is no 'secrecy of personal life' in the archives.
Russian archives have begun to refuse researchers access to the files of rehabilitated victims of political repression. It is believed that the reason is the March order of the Russian State Archive No. 38, which establishes the procedure for including documents in the closed list of "official information of limited distribution." The Russian State Archive confirmed that the data "on archival documents containing information about victims of political repression" has received the status of "For official use only." At the same time, the agency reported that the commission responsible for the list has not yet "considered" the issue of victims of political repression. Historians say that the explanation from the Russian State Archive "added nothing to the understanding of the situation."
Researcher Oleg Novoselov, who has been studying documents at the State Archive of Administrative Bodies of the Sverdlovsk Region (GAAO) since 2018, told Kommersant about the problems with access to the files of rehabilitated victims of political repression. Previously, Mr. Novoselov had never encountered access issues, but at the end of September, archive staff informed him that they could not issue the requested documents from the files of rehabilitated individuals (who were accused of anti-Soviet agitation, distributing illegal literature, and participating in counter-revolutionary organizations). "When I asked: 'How can this be? Why?' — I was told that back in March, an order from the Russian State Archive came not to issue the files of the repressed," said the researcher. "I reminded them that the refusal contradicts Federal Law No. 125-FZ 'On Archival Affairs.' The staff agreed but said they could do nothing as they had instructions not to issue files without proof of kinship."
Moscow lawyer Vladimir Redekop attempted to clarify the situation regarding the Russian State Archive's order No. 38 dated March 20, 2025. He told Kommersant that since 2022, he has been restoring his family's history and actively working with various archives from Zaporizhia to Amur regions. Among his ancestors were victims of political repression, but due to the passage of time, he could not document his kinship. Some archives refused to provide case materials, but the lawyer successfully challenged such decisions in court. In April 2024, Mr. Redekop again received a refusal to access a copy of the archival file of a rehabilitated individual. This time, the decision was made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Amur Region, which stated that there were "official information of limited distribution" in the documents. "The legislation in effect at that time explicitly prohibited this," said the lawyer. "But apparently, the Ministry of Internal Affairs already knew that a new document was being prepared." In October 2024, amendments were made to the government resolution of November 3, 1994, regarding official information of limited distribution, which can now include non-secret data from archives, "the dissemination of which may pose a potential threat to the interests of the Russian Federation." Soon after, the Russian State Archive issued order No. 38.
"Both the list itself and the grounds for its inclusion are classified as 'For official use only.' And no one knows what is actually happening there," the lawyer expressed indignation. In May 2025, he sought clarification from the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. They stated that the expansion of the powers of the Russian State Archive was due to "the need to protect the interests of the Russian Federation in the context of unprecedented economic, political, and informational pressure on the Russian Federation and the unfriendly actions of foreign states and territories against the Russian Federation, Russian legal entities, and individuals." The letter states that information from the Russian State Archive needs to be protected from distortion of historical facts, false interpretation, or use "in the interests of unfriendly states and territories," and adds that among the users of archival documents "there may be foreign citizens as well." The administration of the President of the Russian Federation also added that there are about 4.5 million archival cases stored in Russian archives, "containing sensitive information, the use of which may harm the interests of the Russian Federation."
"It is clear that at the regional level there are indeed refusals for researchers, but on what basis they are made is unclear. The explanation from the Russian State Archive added nothing to the understanding of the situation," said historian Alexander Dyukov, director of the Historical Memory Foundation, to Kommersant. He considers the closure of access to documents of the repressed to be "an absolutely negative phenomenon." The scholar reminded that previously archives attempted to close access under the pretext of "the secrecy of personal life." However, in most cases, Mr. Dyukov asserts, there is no "secrecy of personal life" in the archives: "On the contrary, the documents of rehabilitated individuals contain a wealth of important and useful information for historians, concerning not only issues of political repression. Attempts to simply dismiss all testimonies given by rehabilitated individuals are scientifically unjustifiable. The testimonies contain many very important facts and details that are crucial for historical science."
As for the cases of unrehabilitated individuals, Mr. Dyukov added, they were previously closed to researchers as well. In his opinion, this is also "absolutely incorrect," as scholars are deprived of access to the files of those who were lawfully convicted: "If we are talking about the Nazi crimes of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists), UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army, banned in the Russian Federation as an extremist organization), or some Baltic 'forest brothers,' they are precisely in those files of unrehabilitated individuals. And researchers do not have access to them."
