Turkey has deported a Russian activist wanted by Moscow for protesting the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, in what appears to be the first known case of Ankara returning an anti-war Russian to their home country.
Russian authorities had charged Ariadna Litvinova, 24, with “discrediting” the army after she wrote messages on banners at a pro-war exhibition in St. Petersburg that read: “Murderers,” “Peace to Ukraine” and “Freedom for political prisoners.”
Litvinova was deported — meaning that her removal from Turkey was formally initiated by Ankara and not in response to a Russian extradition request — to Moscow's Vnukovo Airport on Saturday and detained on arrival, her lawyers said.
She faces up to seven years in Russian prison if convicted.
Human rights lawyers warn that deportation is becoming an increasingly common tool of transnational repression against Russian anti-war activists abroad.
