On August 20, 2025, the government of the Russian Federation adopted Resolution No. 1240, which approved amendments to the federal targeted program “Development of the Penal System (2018–2035).” The document outlines large-scale expansion of penitentiary infrastructure in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

As part of the program, the Russian authorities plan to additionally build pre-trial detention centers with 366 places and, in two stages, a new detention facility with a total capacity of 1,500 places, reconstruct one correctional colony with 20 cell-type rooms, and purchase 85 units of production equipment to involve prisoners in forced labor. The implementation of these projects is allocated 16.61 billion Russian rubles from the federal budget of the Russian Federation, of which 15.36 billion rubles are earmarked specifically for the construction of new pre-trial detention centers.

The Russian government justifies these measures by citing the overpopulation of pre-trial detention centers on the peninsula (according to the occupiers, the occupancy rate in Crimea’s detention facilities currently exceeds 103%). The program will run until 2035 and covers the construction and reconstruction of penitentiary facilities across the entire Russian Federation, including the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine, however, construction in Crimea is planned for 2026–2030.

The Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea condemns the illegal actions of the Russian Federation in the occupied territories of Ukraine. The construction of new places of detention violates international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from altering infrastructure and legislative norms in occupied territory in ways that intensify repression against its population.

These plans are being implemented against the backdrop of the Russian Federation’s increasingly repressive policies and its withdrawal, announced on August 25, 2025, from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This decision indicates an attempt to evade international monitoring of detention conditions and increases the risks to human rights in occupied Crimea.

The Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea calls on the international community to increase political and sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation in order to stop human rights violations and illegal activities in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories.