In Armenia, Russian soldiers kidnapped a man who had left the Russian Federation and refused to fight in Ukraine.

Russian military police detained Russian citizen Anatoly Shchetin in the Armenian Gyumri. He was hiding in Armenia due to his refusal to serve in military service and was put on the wanted list in the Russian Federation.

“Once again, law enforcement officers of the Russian Federation, violating the legislation of Armenia, carry out illegal activities, kidnap a person, hold him in an illegal prison and try to transfer him to the Russian Federation,” human rights activists from the Vanadzor branch of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (HCA) said in a statement.

They called on the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia to take action and release the illegally detained Shchetin, as well as to bring the kidnappers to justice.

This is the second known case of the kidnapping of a deserted Russian military man in Armenia. In December 2023, Dmitry Setrakov was detained, who escaped after mobilization and refusal to participate in the SVO. Later he was deported to Rostov.

The head of the Vanadzor branch of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, Artur Sakunts, told the Armenian service of Radio Liberty that the Russian military police do not have the right to detain even Russian citizens in Armenia; only Armenian law enforcement agencies can do this.

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