Vitaly Shishkin Extradited

The newspaper "168 Hours" reports: "Last week, the Armenian segment of social media was stirred by news that the Republic of Armenia had granted asylum to Vitaly Shishkin, who has been convicted multiple times for fraud in Russia, organized various disturbances, espoused radical nationalist ideas, and considers himself a political refugee. He announced this on his Facebook page.

However, later, journalist Emil Babayan provided a detailed account of Shishkin's activities, stating that in the city of Arzamas, Russia, "15 Armenian families, about 50 people, were expelled from the city, their homes and businesses taken away. This was brutality orchestrated by Shishkin. He everywhere yelled, as best he could, that he was a Russian nationalist, a national socialist, right-wing. And today, through the 'Liberty' radio station, he claims that all this was concocted by Russian special services."

The Migration Service of Armenia commented on the situation surrounding Shishkin, stating that the "Law on Political Asylum" has not yet been applied, meaning that Armenia has not granted asylum to anyone, including Shishkin, under this law. In this regard, Emil Babayan wrote: "Okay, the 'Law on Political Asylum' has not been applied. But there is another law in Armenia, called 'About Refugees and Asylum.' These are two different laws, both of which imply the provision of refugee status. The 'About Refugees and Asylum' law lists the grounds on which Armenia can recognize a foreign citizen as a refugee and grant them the relevant status. There are not many grounds; either a person is persecuted for belonging to a certain racial, national, ethnic, or religious group, or they are persecuted for political views. That’s it, there are no other grounds, you can check for yourself (Article No. 6, Part 1). In the guarantee documents that Shishkin provided to the Migration Service of Armenia, it is stated that he is being persecuted precisely for political reasons, claiming to be an opposition figure and fearing that Putin will capture him. In other words, the Armenian authorities have told everyone that Vitaly Shishkin has not been granted 'political asylum', but he has been granted 'refugee status for political reasons.' As if there is some difference between the two."

And now, 168.am has received information that 2-3 days ago, Armenia, apparently delving into the essence of the issue and fearing undesirable developments, has extradited Vitaly Shishkin. If the information is correct, and Shishkin is indeed no longer in Armenia, isn't it a problem to extradite someone who has received asylum? Could it not have been more consistent and far-sighted to study a person's biography, activities, and the ideas they profess before granting them official status in Armenia?

We attempted to verify the information with the spokesperson of the Migration Service, Nelly Davtyan, asking whether Armenia has extradited Vitaly Shishkin. "I cannot confirm such information because we simply do not have such information," said the public relations officer of the Migration Service."