Armenian Authorities May Also Face Headaches: Lapshin

Last evening, a 23-year-old Russian citizen who fled to Armenia to avoid mobilization was arrested in downtown Yerevan at the request of Russia. This was reported on Facebook by blogger Alexander Lapshin.

“A few months ago, I warned that requests for arrests would soon be sent throughout the CIS. And that there’s nothing more foolish than hiding in Armenia. One could just as easily flee to Chelyabinsk. But people are not listening. However, Armenian authorities may also find themselves in a headache.

Will the Armenian authorities agree to extradite the Russian for not going to fight in Ukraine? The West would criticize such a decision. But if they refuse to extradite him to Russia, it will provoke the Kremlin’s anger.

If the arrested Russian is not foolish, his lawyers will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against any decision on extradition to Russia, and Armenia will be prohibited from extraditing him. Then Armenia will again find itself in an absurd situation, trying to hand over a ‘peace fighter’ to Russia, but failing.

What should tiny Armenia do to avoid such situations? It only needed to withdraw from the Minsk Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance, which allows for extradition without Interpol sanctions. Without this Minsk Convention, all responsibility would fall on Interpol, which guarantees that obviously innocent people do not end up on wanted lists. As it stands, all responsibility has fallen on Armenia, which already has many problems,” wrote Lapshin.

It is worth recalling that on April 7, a 23-year-old Yuri T., wanted by Moscow law enforcement for desertion, was discovered, arrested, and transferred to the Marash division.