Russia is seeking to ban the vaguely defined “anti-Russian separatist movement” as an “extremist” organization, the Justice Ministry said Friday.According to the ministry, the so-called movement’s goal is to “destroy the multinational unity and territorial integrity of Russia.”The ministry’s request is set to be heard by Russia’s Supreme Court on June 7.The independent OVD-Info rights project, which first reported on the planned designation, said it was unable to find a formal organization titled “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement.” Observers speculated that designating the “separatist movement” as extremist could lead to wider targeting of anti-war or indigenous rights and decolonial activists in Russia.Last year, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office banned the Free Nations League anti-imperial movement and the Forum of Free Peoples of Post-Russia, a group that calls for Russia's disintegration, as “undesirable” organizations. The Supreme Court’s previously banned as extremist the similarly nonexistent “international LGBT public movement” and the “Ya/My Furgal movement” in support of the ex-governor of the Far East Khabarovsk region.The November 2023 “LGBT movement” ban has led to a sweeping crackdown on public displays of LGBTQ+ identity and lifestyles.