The court's ruling asserts that the movement operates "under the supervision of Ukrainian special services and with the financial support of unfriendly countries." It claims the group's activities encroach on Russia's territorial integrity, threaten the foundations of the constitutional order and "entail harm to the individual, public order and security."
Among the grievances listed against activists in the decision are "tying yellow ribbons in public places," distributing pro-Ukrainian leaflets and graffiti, and publicly performing Ukrainian songs. News of the lawsuit emerged on October 26 from a Justice Ministry notice, which named the group as the Ukrainian public association "Hromadska Orhanizatsiia 'Zhovta Strichka.'"
The movement appeared in spring 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion. Its first actions took place in occupied Kherson, where participants protested with Ukrainian symbols and urged residents not to cooperate with the authorities appointed by Russia. In its manifesto the organization describes itself as a movement of nonviolent resistance.
Activists distribute pro-Ukrainian stickers and leaflets, hang flags and yellow ribbons, and call for boycotting Russian elections and referendums, refusing Russian passports and avoiding mobilization. According to the movement itself, its activists operate in Crimea and the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, with their numbers estimated at several thousand. Photographs of the actions are published on the movement's Telegram channel.
In November 2022, representatives of Yellow Ribbon became laureates of the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded by the European Parliament. The movement received the award as one of the representatives of the Ukrainian people.
Russian security services pursued alleged participants in the movement even before the official ban. Ksenia Svetlishina, a resident of Sevastopol, was initially sentenced to five years and three months in a penal colony on charges of confidential cooperation with foreigners and vandalism. After her case was reviewed in 2025, her term was increased to 13 years and three months, with the charge reclassified as high treason.