Russian military police have captured a Russian soldier in Armenia wanted in his homeland for refusing to fight in Ukraine, according to the Vanadzor branch of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly.
Ani Chatinian, a lawyer for the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, said the organization learned of the arrest of Anatoly Shchetinin on April 9 and was trying to prevent him from being sent to Russia.
Shchetinin was detained on the territory of a Russian military base in Armenia's northwestern city of Gyumri and preparations were under way to fly him to Russia, according to human rights activists.
Artur Sakunts, the head of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly office in the Armenian city of Vanadzor, told the publication that first reported Shchetinin's arrest that it was unknown under what circumstances he was detained. In a statement, the organization said that the "abduction" of the soldier violated Armenian law.
The case is similar to one last year involving Russian citizen Dmitry Setrakov, who fled Russia to avoid mobilization to the war in Ukraine. Setrakov was detained in November.
Rights watchdogs said at the time that Setrakov was detained by Russian military police on Armenian territory.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, in an interview with France 24 in February, expressed concern over the detention of Setrakov, calling it "an abduction" and saying "we cannot tolerate illegal actions on our territory."
Setrakov deserted from the Russian Army and was also detained in Gyumri. Twelve days after his arrest, he was taken to Russia.
Chatinian said the actions of the Russians in both cases were "unauthorized and criminal."
"We've sent a report to the Prosecutor-General's Office about the crime," Chatinian said. The report says Russian law enforcement agencies in the territory under the jurisdiction of Armenia "have no jurisdiction to carry out such an operation, and Anatoly Shchetinin should be transferred immediately to law enforcement agencies in Armenia."
Shchetinin's reason for refusing to fight is unknown. It is also not known how he arrived in Armenia and whether he was conscripted into the military or volunteered to fight.
What happened both in the case of Setrakov and in Shchetinin's case is illegal and exaggerates the scope of the powers of the Russian military, Chatinian stressed.
She added that lawyers must act very quickly to avoid repeating what happened to Setrakov, who was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison and is now in the fourth month of that sentence in a prison in Rostov.