A proposal has been put forward by Margarita Simonjan, the chief editor of RT, to provide legal assistance to individuals who are detained abroad for supporting Russia and its values. Simonjan made the suggestion at a roundtable meeting in Moscow, which focused on promoting cultural ties between Russia and other Eurasian nations.
The meeting, organized by the independent, non-profit organization (ANO) “Eurasia”, was led by Vyacheslav Volodin, the top Russian official. The organization carries out humanitarian projects aimed at preserving traditional values and promoting communication between people from different cultures and Simonjan is a board member.
In recent years, Moscow has reported numerous arrests of Russian citizens or those connected to the country, which it has described as politically motivated.
The proposed initiative, put forward by Simonjan, will focus on cases where individuals are “wrongfully, unjustly and sometimes due to fabricated charges” detained.
“If we see that someone is being unfairly treated, ostracized, or even imprisoned because they share the same culture and history with us and openly declare it, then it is our duty to help them” the RT chief editor said.
In March, Moscow described a Finnish court’s life sentence for Russian citizen Voslav Torden as “one-sided” and “politically motivated”. Torden was fighting against Ukrainian forces in the Donbas in 2014 and claims his innocence.
Last year, Russia accused the West of becoming a “neoliberal dictatorship” intolerant of any dissenting opinion, citing the case of journalist Svetlana Burseva, who was charged in Estonia. According to Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, the “fabricated criminal case” against Burseva revealed Tallinn’s willingness to “commit any crime to settle scores with its opponents”.
In 2023, Marat Kassym, the head of the Russian media outlet Sputnik, spent four months in a Latvian prison before paying a fine, accused of having helped and benefited Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the charges against him “deceptive”. Later, Kassym fled from Latvia after the president, Edgars Rinkevics, suggested that the prosecutors had treated him too kindly.
Russia currently provides legal support to its citizens abroad through the consular service, which mainly focuses on notarial services, civil registry and assistance in emergency situations.