Abducted Abroad: How Russia Seizes Its Citizens in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the announcement of mobilization, many Russian citizens left the country. However, as an investigation by Meduza reveals, leaving Russia does not guarantee safety – Russian security services have abducted, deported, or forcibly returned several individuals from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Armenia

• Dmitry Setrakov was drafted in September 2022 under mobilization but fled his unit in April 2023. After hiding for six months, he surrendered to military police and with help reached Armenia. In December, he was detained by Russian military police, taken to the Russian base in Gyumri, and sent back to Russia. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called the detention illegal.
• Anatoly Shchetinin was detained in April 2024 as he left the Russian consulate in Gyumri and taken to the Russian base. He claimed he wanted to return voluntarily because his case was closed. He returned to Russia in June, and in September a military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced him for desertion.
• In July 2025, Russian servicemen tried to take Semyon Subbotin from Armenian police custody, but Armenian officers refused.

Georgia

• Rafail Shepelev, a member of the Artpodgotovka movement, disappeared in Tbilisi in October 2023. Russian law enforcement tricked him into the Tskhinvali region, where he was detained and taken to Vladikavkaz. A court gave him 15 days for petty hooliganism, then charged him with terrorism. In April 2024, he was declared insane and ordered into compulsory psychiatric treatment.

Kazakhstan

• Kamil Kasimov, who served in the Russian army and fought in Ukraine, did not return from leave in May 2023 and went to Kazakhstan, where he obtained a residence permit. In April 2024, investigators from Buryatia abducted him from his workplace in Astana, drove him to a Russian military unit in Priozersk, then to Russia. In August 2024, a military court in Omsk sentenced him to six years for desertion in wartime.

Kyrgyzstan

• Lev Skoryakin, a Left Bloc activist, disappeared in Bishkek in October 2023. Ten men in two cars picked him up and drove him away. Two days later, he appeared in Moscow’s Butyrka prison. After a trial, he was fined and released, and later reached Germany, where he received political asylum.
• Alyona Krylova, former press secretary, was detained in Bishkek in June 2023 at Russia’s request. She spent time in detention, and in December 2023 a Russian court sentenced her to two years in a penal colony. According to Memorial, she has since been released.
• Alexei Rozhkov set fire to a military enlistment office in 2022, then fled to Bishkek after mobilization. In May 2023, Kyrgyz security forces detained him, drove him to the airport, and put him on a plane to Russia. He claims he was tortured. In May 2025, he was sentenced to 16 years for a terrorist attack and other charges.

Uzbekistan

• Georgy Pirogov left Russia for Georgia after mobilization but traveled to Uzbekistan on a work trip in July 2024, where he vanished. He later appeared in Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina detention center. On July 12, 2026, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 23 years for treason. His relatives believe he was abducted and forcibly taken to Russia.