Statement by the Center for Civil Liberties. Russia Fails to Comply with Its Obligation to Provide Information on Prisoners of War and Civilians

Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war and protection of civilians imposed obligations on all their state parties to comply with the minimum standard of providing information about prisoners of war and detained civilians. These obligations include the establishment of special information bureaus to collect information about these persons and transmit it to interested parties. The diligent operation of these bureaus should be the start of communication between war victims and their relatives.

However, the Russian Federation fails to fulfil this obligation in the course of its aggression against Ukraine. In September 2025, the experts of the Moscow Mechanism of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe published their latest report on the status of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Russian Federation and in the occupied territories. In the General Observations and General Conclusions sections of the report, the experts conclude that “The Russian National Information Bureau (NIB) is not fully transparent, limiting the exchange of information about POWs”. (1)

Experts note that in February 2022, Russia allegedly established the Information Bureau for Prisoners of War. However, no information on this organisation can be found except for the phone number. These findings are true, but are far from being sufficient.

The truth is that the Russian regime has, in fact, failed to establish information bureaus for both prisoners of war and civilians. Back in the summer of 2024, the Ukrainian human rights activists stated that, in fact, there was no national information bureau in Russia, only a hotline under the Ministry of Defence, grossly limiting opportunities for the Ukrainians deprived of liberty to give notice of themselves (2). This Kremlin’s simulacrum does not meet the requirements of both the Geneva Convention (III) and the Geneva Convention (IV).

The Russian fake entity bearing the name of the information bureau for prisoners of war fails to exercise functions provided for in Article 122 of the Geneva Convention (III) and to collect information on all persons protected by the Convention. Consequently, it does not transmit this information to Ukraine either. As a result, neither the war victim relatives nor the Government of Ukraine have full knowledge of the health conditions of severely wounded and ill persons, nor of addresses to which letters could be sent to prisoners of war. This humanitarian fake creation is subordinated to the Ministry of Defence of Russia and bears the official name of the “Information Bureau on Prisoners of War”. It means that this Russian bureau has nothing to do, even from a formal standpoint, with those Ukrainian civilians whom the occupiers have deprived of liberty. At the same time, Article 136 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Geneva Convention (IV)) requires that a party to the conflict establish a national information bureau in respect of civilians.

As of now, Russia has illegally deprived several thousand Ukrainian citizens of their freedom. There are more of them than the Ukrainian prisoners of war. These people are held in compulsory detention facilities, in harsh conditions, often incomunicado, without any court decisions. The status of these people was the subject of the report made by experts of the Moscow Mechanism and published in April 2024 (3). 

There is no national information bureau for civilians in Russia, and the so-called “Information Bureau for Prisoners of War” is not vested with these functions.

We ask the states that have the relevant powers to activate the Moscow Mechanism and initiate the detailed examination of the problem of the lack of effective national information bureaus for prisoners of war and civilians in the Russian Federation, and the consequences of this problem for the Ukrainians deprived of liberty. We call for the development of effective mechanisms to hold the Russian authorities accountable for concealing information about people deprived of their liberty.

(1). Report on Possible Violations and Abuses of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, Related to the Treatment of Ukrainian POWs by the Russian Federation.  Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. 25 September 2025.

(2).  «Missing Persons: the Problem of Search for Them and Their Identification». Center for Civil Liberties.

(3). Report on violations and abuses of international humanitarian and human rights law, war crimes and crimes against humanity, related to the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of Ukrainian civilians by the Russian Federation.