Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

On February 13, 2025, Roman Shklover, who is under the legal protection of the HCA Vanadzor, received a call from the Protection Division of Yerevan Metro of the RA Police,  inviting him to the department to provide some clarifications. R. Shklover immediately contacted HCA Vanadzor and appeared at the department accompanied by the Organization’s lawyer, Samson Galstyan. The police department reported that a criminal case has been initiated against R. Shklover in the Russian Federation, but no measure of restraint has been imposed yet. 

During that time, in the presence of lawyer S. Galstyan, representatives of the law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation, most likely officers of the Federal Security Service, "FSB", broke into the RA police department and, in the presence of the RA police, tried to persuade R. Shklover to voluntarily go with them and surrender to the Russian Federation, promising that "everything will be fine with him." Lawyer S. Galstyan of the HCA Vanadzor did not allow such an illegal act, and R. Shklover himself refused to cooperate with the FSB employees. 

It turns out that Russian security officers have free access to and from the Police Departments of the Republic of Armenia, are able to meet with Russian citizens in the departments without hindrance, and "urge" them to voluntarily surrender to Russia. 

We strongly condemn both the obvious illegal actions of representatives of the Russian law enforcement bodies on the territory of a sovereign state, and we strongly demand that the law enforcement bodies of the Republic of Armenia take immediate measures not only to stop such illegal actions, but also to initiate criminal prosecution against those who committed such illegal actions.

This is not the first time that Russian security bodies have persecuted Russian citizens in the Republic of Armenia. In March 2024, HCAV received alerts from Russian citizens who had escaped political persecution and sought refuge in Armenia. The alerts most likely remained unheeded, which is why the employees of the Russian security body continue to freely commit illegal acts in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, in cooperation with RA law enforcement officers.

The RF citizens who found refuge in Armenia have noticed  persons dressed in the Russian Federation military uniforms near their residence places, who overtly follow them and seek information as to who resides in apartments they oversee.  

We managed to find out that representatives of law enforcement agencies in Russian military uniforms are using an unregistered passenger car with an Armenian license plate, which is intended exclusively for operational intelligence operations. Details of the incident: HERE.