Original Russian-language document. Code of Administrative Offences (КоАП РФ), Ch. 20, Art. 20.3 (“Пропаганда либо публичное демонстрирование запрещённой атрибутики или символики”). Current redaction (part 1 as amended by Federal Law No. 259-FZ of 14 July 2022). Retrieved 19 July 2026; verify wording against the official publication at pravo.gov.ru. Part of the TOT Insights collection of Russian federal security-law provisions used to police collaboration, information-sharing and dissent in the occupied territories.
Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences penalises the propaganda or public display of Nazi symbols, symbols confusingly similar to them, the symbols of extremist organisations, or “other symbols whose display is banned by federal law.” For citizens it carries a fine with confiscation or up to fifteen days’ administrative arrest. It is the everyday tool for policing Ukrainian identity: the phrase “or other symbols whose display is banned by federal law” links the offence to the registers of banned extremist/terrorist organisations, so that displaying the symbols of Azov, the UPA or Right Sector — and in practice the Ukrainian trident and flag — becomes an administrative offence. There is no standalone published list of banned symbols; the prohibition operates through this article plus Ministry of Justice registers and case-by-case rulings. Monitors record that a majority of prosecutions under it in occupied Crimea target supporters of Ukraine, and it is routinely stacked with the discrediting charge (CoAP 20.3.3) to raise the penalty.
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Article 20.3 — Public Display of Banned Symbols
1. Propaganda or public display of Nazi attributes or symbols, of attributes or symbols confusingly similar to them, of the attributes or symbols of extremist organisations, or of other attributes or symbols whose propaganda or public display is prohibited by federal laws, where these actions do not contain the elements of a criminally punishable act, shall entail an administrative fine on citizens of 1,000 to 2,000 roubles with confiscation, or administrative arrest for up to fifteen days with confiscation; on officials, 1,000 to 4,000 roubles with confiscation; on legal persons, 10,000 to 50,000 roubles with confiscation.
2. The manufacture or sale for propaganda purposes, or acquisition for sale or propaganda, of such attributes or symbols entails a fine on citizens of 1,000 to 2,500 roubles with confiscation; on officials, 2,000 to 5,000 roubles; on legal persons, 20,000 to 100,000 roubles with confiscation.
Relevance to coercion in the occupied territories
The everyday tool for policing Ukrainian identity. The decisive phrase is “or other symbols whose display is banned by federal law”: it links the offence to the register of organisations banned as extremist or terrorist, so that displaying the symbols of the Azov brigade, the UPA or Right Sector, and in practice the Ukrainian trident and flag, becomes an administrative offence carrying up to fifteen days’ arrest and confiscation. There is no standalone published “list of extremist symbols”; the prohibition operates through this article plus the Ministry of Justice registers and case-by-case court rulings. Monitors record that a majority of prosecutions under it in occupied Crimea target supporters of Ukraine, and it is routinely stacked with the discrediting charge (CoAP 20.3.3) to raise the penalty.