Yevgeny Nakaznenko, Accused in Russia, Arrested in Almaty

Russian citizen Yevgeny Nakaznenko was detained at the Almaty airport. In the Russian Federation, he has been charged under: "Fakes About The Army" and "Calls For Terrorism," Orda.kz reports.

Journalist Evgenia Baltatarova reported on the arrest of Evgeniy Nakaznenko on Telegram.

According to her, on September 17, Russian citizen Yevgeny Nakaznenko was detained at the Almaty airport. He intended to set off for Türkiye. The Novosibirsk Investigative Committee placed Nakaznenko on the interstate wanted list under the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, “Fakes About The Army,” and “Calls for Terrorism.”

A court decision on September 20 placed him in the Almaty pretrial detention center for 40 days (until November 17) under extradition arrest.

Evgeniy Nakaznenko is a well-known entrepreneur in Kazakhstan who has not lived in Russia since 2007. He has a valid residence permit in Kazakhstan and is the director of the Oxford Team language school in Oskemen.

He is an ethnic Ukrainian by nationality and opposes the war in Ukraine. He regularly posted videos with his opinions on his Instagram account, which attracted the attention of Kazakhstani pro-Russian blogger Anton Budarov, who lives in Russia. Two weeks ago, Budarov made a long video about Nakaznenko on his YouTube channel with 230,000 followers, where he called on the Russian authorities to pay attention to Nakaznenko and put him in jail, writes Evgeniya Baltatarova.

Nakaznenko's lawyer, Yevgeny Nakaznenko, told the Telegram channel “Sota” about the details.

"Dias Kentay uly Akhmetov informed that the interstate search for Yevgeny Nakaznenko was announced on the day of his departure to Türkiye for business concerning his language school. Before that, Nakaznenko, despite Budarov's threats and hints, knew nothing about the criminal investigation in Russia and did not try to hide. Moreover, according to the lawyer, Nakaznenko himself was recently at the police department with a statement against Anton Budarov, and then the law enforcement officers did not have any questions for him. According to the lawyer, the judge, the prosecutor, and the lawyer himself waited for the case materials from Russia until late in the evening; that is, they could not familiarize themselves with them in advance, and the trial took place after the end of the working day, The Telegram channel post reads.

Kazakhstani human rights activists involved in aid to Ukraine were the first to learn about Nakaznenko's arrest; they helped find a lawyer.

Original Author: Rimma Karatayeva