Interpol detains Crimean Tatar in France at the request of Russian special services

Russian special services systematically use Interpol for political persecution of Crimean Tatars, disguising it as criminal proceedings. Even those who have long since left Crimea and are protected in the EU countries are targeted.

This was reported by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center.

Crimean Tatar Ilnur Shahayev was detained in France at the request of Russia. He is 33 years old, he left Crimea with his family before the full-scale invasion and now has temporary protection in Ireland. He was detained while boarding a ferry to the UK. He was put on the wanted list after leaving the occupied peninsula.

The occupiers accused Shahayev of having ties to banned organizations. But the CTRC is convinced that this is another example of political persecution.

According to the Chairman of the Board of the CTRC Eskender Bariev, Russian security forces deliberately do not report criminal cases so that a person can be detained while traveling and then extradited.

We have to prove that the reports that Russia is submitting are mostly politically motivated. But Russia is a large country in terms of territory, it pays its dues, so I doubt that it will be possible to completely exclude it from Interpol," Bariev noted.

The Center emphasized that Russia regularly abuses Interpol to persecute Crimean Tatars and urges everyone who has left the occupied Crimea to check their data in international databases.

CTRC lawyer Lyudmyla Korotkikh added that in a number of cases, people did not even know that they were wanted. To avoid this, she advised checking the information in advance.

Although in 2022 Interpol partially limited the capabilities of the Russian Federation, it is still difficult to completely exclude it from the organization, as this requires the support of two-thirds of the member states.

As of July 2025, 260 political prisoners were held in Russian prisons and pre-trial detention centers, 153 of whom were Crimean Tatars. Since 2014, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center has recorded 413 cases of politically motivated persecution. In the first half of 2025 alone, almost 100 people were arrested in Crimea, half of whom are Crimean Tatars.

Анна Бальчінос