Adversary Intelligence — 2026-06-26

Russian Courts Hand Down Record Number of Treason and Espionage Verdicts in 2026

BLUFMoscow's compression of treason trials to single-session hearings signals a permanent institutional shift, making at least 100 additional convictions very likely by end of June.

Department One, a Russian human rights group, found that courts convicted 110 people under state security statutes in the first quarter of 2026, averaging two defendants per working day across 55 working days Meduza" data-url="https://meduza.io/en/news/2026/06/25/russia-is-speeding-up-treason-and-espionage-trials-courts-are-sentencing-two-people-a-day" data-rt="primary" data-mbfc="high" data-otype="digital_news">1. Courts received 143 state security cases in that quarter and resolved 62 by its end, a 43% clearance rate compared to 26% over the same period in 2025 12. March alone produced 48 verdicts, the highest monthly total in the observation period, with treason accounting for 90% of convictions and the average sentence reaching 15 years and five months 12. Department One lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov told Meduza that military courts now schedule hearings months in advance and allot each case a single session to absorb the volume 1.

Analysis
The Q1 acceleration is very likely to sustain through Q2 2026, with the residual 81 unresolved cases at quarter-end supplying the near-term caseload and March's 48 verdicts demonstrating the monthly throughput courts can sustain. Single-session docket scheduling reflects deliberate institutional adaptation. The competing reading, that courts merely exhausted accumulated backlog, remains plausible but is undercut by the structural scheduling changes Smirnov described. Confidence is moderate: the statistical picture rests entirely on Department One figures relayed through a single outlet with no independent corroboration. Allied services with assets in Russia should treat two convictions per working day as the operational baseline, not an anomaly.

2 sources