- Category
- Latest news
Russia Abuses Interpol to Target Crimean Tatars Abroad, Activists Warn
- Authors
![Photo of Roman Kohanets]( "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
-111f0e5095e02c02446ffed57bfb0ab1.jpeg "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
Russian authorities have increasingly deployed Interpol “red notices” against Crimean Tatars abroad—a practice critics say serves as a tool of political persecution rather than genuine criminal justice, as was reported in a statement of Crimean Tatar Resource Center issued on July 11.
Eskender Bariev, chair of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center and member of the Mejlis, explained that Russian security services deliberately avoid informing potential targets of the charges against them, ensuring that individuals only learn of red notices when they travel and face arrest and possible extradition to Russia.
He pointed to the 2022 detention of ATR journalist Gulsum Khalilova in Istanbul—held nearly 17 hours under an Interpol notice before Ukrainian and Turkish diplomats intervened—as a stark illustration of this tactic.
-7c95cbc56a064b2c0960d7e111a72344.jpg)
Lyudmyla Korotkykh, legal counsel for the Resource Center, detailed the organization’s close cooperation with Ukraine’s National Central Bureau of Interpol to challenge politically motivated notices.
She noted that Russia’s application of its criminal code in occupied Crimea breaches both its own territorial-principle laws and international humanitarian law, including Article 64 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from enforcing its domestic criminal laws in occupied territory.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center urges everyone who has left occupied Crimea—or who may be at risk—to proactively check Interpol’s Red Notice database for their names, helping to prevent unexpected detentions and the threat of extradition.
Earlier Colombian authorities detained a 21-year-old man wanted by Lithuania on suspicion of espionage for Russian interests—an arrest prompted by an Interpol notice and highlighting similar concerns over state-driven pursuit of individuals under the guise of criminal warrants.
