Svetlana Timofeyeva, a Russian national who was arrested and charged with spying in Albania, requested asylum in the Western Balkan nation on March 13, saying she fears persecution should she return to Russia.
Timofeyeva, 33, was arrested in August 2022 along with another Russian, 25-year-old Mikhail Zorin, and Ukrainian Fedir Mykhaylov, age unknown, after allegedly attempting to enter a military facility.
They were arrested inside or near the former military plant in Gramsh, 80 kilometers south of the capital, Tirana. The suspects had taken photos of the plant.
Timofeyeva, a self-proclaimed blogger, said she was only attempting to photograph a closed former communist-era military facility, part of her efforts to document abandoned Cold War buildings.
Timofeyeva is being held at a women's prison in Tirana. A hearing has been set for March 17.
"If I return to the Russian Federation, I will be persecuted because of my political beliefs," she claimed.
Her lawyer, Isuf Shehu, said the asylum application was filed with Albanian authorities because Timofeyeva faces similar spying charges in Russia, also because of her blogging efforts to photograph Cold War sites, often military facilities. Moscow has requested her extradition.
"There is reason to think she will be subjected to persecution or discrimination or wild, inhuman, humiliating treatment or actions that constitute violations of fundamental human rights. The return of this citizen to Russia would be contrary to the prohibition of torture and inhuman and humiliating treatment," the asylum request stated.
Albanian judge Pajtime Fetahu, in an August 24 ruling, agreed with prosecutors’ request to detain the three amid allegations of “securing secret information of military or any other character in order to be supplied to a foreign power, which violates the country’s independence.”
The two other suspects also remain detained in Albania. They have also denied the allegations and reportedly have submitted appeals to the Supreme Court
The arrest of the three raised alarms in Albania, a member of NATO and a supporter of Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion of that country.