People hiding from Russian authorities increased by 37 percent in 2025

Russians and other people hiding from special services, investigations, and courts has reached a record high in the country.

By the end of 2025, there were 114,408 people hiding across Russia, according to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is almost 31,400 more than a year earlier, more than 37 percent, showing a record high growth for at least 17 years.

For comparison, in 2024, the number of wanted individuals in the Ministry of Internal Affairs database increased only five percent (4,000 people).

Moreover, this was the first time in the last 16 years that the number of people on the wanted list began to rise, because between 2008 and 2023, the numbers on the list had slowly been decreasing from 225,800 to 79,000.