Russia is seeking to designate two hacker groups, Belarusian Cyber Partisans and Silent Crow, as extremist organizations and ban their activities in the country.
The groups have previously claimed responsibility for cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure and government institutions in Russia and Belarus.
Russia’s Supreme Court said on Wednesday it would consider a request to ban the groups during a closed-door hearing. The court did not explain why it was seeking to designate them as extremist organizations.
Belarusian Cyber Partisans responded to the announcement in a Telegram post, saying: “Here comes recognition from Russia’s Z-dictatorship of the effectiveness of our work and that of Silent Crow. We’ll keep it up.” Silent Crow did not publicly comment.
The lawsuit comes less than a year after the two groups claimed responsibility for a major cyberattack on Russia’s flagship carrier, Aeroflot. The incident, which occurred in July 2025, forced the airline to cancel more than 100 flights, disrupting travel for roughly 20,000 passengers.
The hackers also claimed they had destroyed the airline’s IT infrastructure and exfiltrated a trove of sensitive data, including flight records, internal call recordings and information from employee monitoring systems. The groups later published what they said were flight records belonging to Aeroflot’s chief executive.
In Russia, organizations designated as extremist are effectively outlawed. Their activities are banned, their websites and publications can be blocked, and individuals associated with them can face administrative or criminal penalties. Russian authorities have in recent years applied the designation to a broad range of political opposition groups, religious organizations and civil society movements.
It remains unclear what practical impact the designation would have on the two hacking groups, which operate largely online. Both maintain public Telegram channels, while Belarusian Cyber Partisans also operate a website and YouTube channel.
Belarusian Cyber Partisans emerged after mass protests in Belarus in 2020 against President Alexander Lukashenko following an election that Western countries said was rigged.
The group has since carried out a series of high-profile cyber operations, including attacks on Belarusian state institutions and the country’s railway network, which it said were intended to disrupt Russian military logistics.
In an interview with Recorded Future News in 2024, members of the group said they were sharing information obtained from hacked Russian entities with Ukrainian intelligence services and Western organizations.
Silent Crow, a pro-Ukraine hacking group, has claimed responsibility for several cyberattacks against Russian targets. Earlier last year, it said it had breached Rosreestr, Russia’s state property registry. Since the Aeroflot hack, the group has not posted any updates on its Telegram channel.
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