US EditionRussia using Interpol's wanted list to target critics abroad, leak reveals
Leaked files reveal Russia used Interpol notices and informal messaging to pursue critics abroad, with about 400 of 700 complaints overturned by Interpol's watchdog over the past decade.
- Leaked Interpol files reveal Russia used the international policing agency to request arrests of political opponents, businessmen and journalists, the BBC World Service and Disclose report.
- After Russia's 2022 invasion, Interpol added extra checks, but Moscow used red notices, red diffusions and the Interpol messaging system to trace people abroad, bypassing formal processes.
- Analysis of leaked data shows at least 700 complaints to the CCF, at least 400 notices overturned, and a red notice alerts all 196 Interpol member countries.
- Affected individuals face arrest risk, travel limits, blocked bank accounts and family displacement, and lawyers Yuriy Nemets and Ben Keith say persistent abusers should be suspended from Interpol.
- Internal 2024–2025 reports show senior Interpol directors raising `serious concerns` about `wilful misuse`, while a whistleblower says some extra measures were quietly dropped in the 2025 rollback.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Russia uses Interpol's wanted lists to seek the arrest of political opponents, businessmen and journalists, and the organization's messaging system to monitor critics of the Russian authorities abroad, the BBC and the French investigative project Disclose have found out. They reviewed files provided by an Interpol informant. Meduza retold the journalists' investigation.
At least 400 arrest requests were withdrawn because they were politically motivated, according to an inquiry by BBC and Disclose
Global: Misuse of Interpol red notices to target dissidents a grave institutional failure
Reacting to media reports that states such as Russia, Türkiye and Tajikistan are extensively misusing Interpol red notices to target political dissidents and to repress human rights defenders, Erika Guevara Rosas Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns of Amnesty International said: “Media reports that Interpol red notices are being extensively misused, without internal scrutiny, to target dissidents, critics and activists a…
According to a report by the British BBC, Russia uses a large number of Interpol police search lists to prosecute government critics.
Dnevni list Danas
nin.rsLeaked documents reveal for the first time the extent of Russian abuse of Interpol to track down critics and opponents of the government.
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