Interpol has refused to extradite Russian journalists Alexander Nevzorov and Andrei Soldatov, blogger Veronika Belotserkovskaya and former police officer Oleg Kashintsev to Russia. They are all abroad and are wanted for fake news and discrediting the Russian military. Russia has requested their extradition, but the official letter from the Interpol Task Force says the organization considers the Russian Criminal Code article on fake news politically motivated.
The Russian site Agentura also published a letter from Vyacheslav Mikheev, head of the extradition department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia, addressed to the Russian Investigative Committee. Mikheev confirms that Interpol considers the persecution under the article of the Russian Criminal Code on the so-called fake news about the Russian army to be politically motivated.
In addition, Interpol can only extradite wanted persons under the criminal articles that exist both in the legislation of the country where the alleged crime was committed and in the legislation of the countries of their stay. Since there are no articles about fake news and the discrediting of the military in other countries, extradition at the request of Russia on this basis is not possible.
Journalist and TV presenter Alexander Nevzorov was put on the wanted list in a criminal case for discrediting the army. Nevzorov is being persecuted over social media posts about the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol by the Russian army. The reporter called this bombing deliberate. Deliberate attacks by the military against civilian targets can be considered a war crime.
Andrey Soldatov is an investigative journalist specializing in intelligence activities. Since the beginning of the war, he has appeared several times in various independent media, talking about the reaction of the secret services to the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Veronika Belotserkovskaya is a popular blogger. Her main themes are social life and culinary recipes. However, after Belotserkovskaya condemned the Russian military invasion of Ukraine on social networks, she became the first publicly known person to be prosecuted for fake news, believing that her publications contained false information about the operated by the Russian army. Last April, the woman was placed on the wanted list.
Oleg Kashintsev is a retired police major, a supporter of Alexei Navalny, who has also spoken out against the war in Ukraine.
