Russian citizen Anatoly Shchetinin, who was hiding in Armenia after refusing military service, was kidnapped by the Russian military. This was reported by the Vanadzor branch of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly.
According to human rights activists, Shchetinin is being held on the territory of the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri.
As assembly representative Arthur Sakunts clarified to the Agency , Shchetinin himself came to the Russian consulate in Gyumri before the abduction. An acquaintance of his who contacted human rights activists said that the man was grabbed by Russian military police at the exit from the consulate and put in a car. Shchetinin managed to inform her about the kidnapping and added that, according to the security forces, on Tuesday evening he would be put on a plane flying to Russia.
After that, Shchetinin stopped communicating. A little later, his girlfriend also stopped answering calls from human rights activists, Sakunts added.
On December 7, 2023, Russian soldiers in Gyumri kidnapped Russian citizen Dmitry Setrakov, who escaped after mobilization and was hiding in Armenia, reported the “Go through the Forest” organization, which helped him. On December 19, the man was taken to Russia, where he is being prosecuted under the article on unauthorized abandonment of a unit during mobilization (Part 5 of Article 337 of the Criminal Code).
On April 10, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia began an investigation into what happened, writes the “Caucasian Knot” with reference to the head of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Civil Assembly.
Shchetinin's location is still unknown.
On April 11, Anatoly Shchetinin is at the Russian military base in Gyumri. There he was visited by the lawyer of the Center for International Defense, Narek Hakobyan, and Hasmik Novikova from the Public Verdict Foundation. The man stated that he did not need their help and the criminal case against him was dropped.
His Yerevan acquaintance, in a conversation with Mediazona, said that Shchetinin had long wanted to return to Russia, but he did not have the money for a ticket.
“He wanted to return to Russia and surrender, he even went to the embassy in Yerevan several times, but they told him to go home. He went because he simply did not have money for a ticket to Russia. Being put on the wanted list, he has no possibility of legalization; no one here helps such people, and they do not know what to do. Having no prospects, they go crazy and decide that it is better to fight and kill in Ukraine than to live here, being a nobody, without any prospects in life. “He just couldn’t stand it,” the publication’s interlocutor added.
The text of the news was clarified after new information appeared. The detainee's name has been corrected.