The human rights situation in Russia has "steadily deteriorated" since President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a UN expert said, describing a "seismic decline" that has hit vulnerable groups such as minorities and migrants particularly hard. "Anti-war dissenters and activists are serving years in prison, not for crimes but for courage," Katzarova told a press conference on September 22 during a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In the report, Katzarova said that "civic space has been systematically and purposefully destroyed" and the authorities have "transformed public institutions into instruments of repression and war." An independent expert appointed in 2023, Katzarova is the first UN-backed monitor of the human rights situation in Russia, one of five permanent UN Security Council members. Russian authorities have been seeking to stifle dissent throughout Putin's quarter-century in power.