Search
The Prosecutors General of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have signed an agreement on cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism. The document provides for the rapid exchange of information about organisations, groups and individuals whom the authorities of these countries consider a security threat. This was reported by RBC.
The countries also plan to share information with each other about the international connections of such groups, possible terrorist attacks and “encroachments on sovereignty,” as well as about illegal armed formations. The agreement pays special attention to foreign “terrorist fighters” and those returning to their countries of origin, as well as their family members.
There have already been similar agreements
The idea of exchanging such information between CIS countries is not new. For example, as far back as 2006, the prosecutors’ offices of eight CIS countries—including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine—signed an agreement on cooperation in the fight against terrorism and other forms of extremism.
Therefore, according to OVD-Info’s interviewed legal experts, the novelty of the new agreement lies not in the cooperation itself, but in the new format and more rapid information exchange directly between the prosecutors general.
“It is possible that information could move even faster, including before any final official statuses are assigned—although without access to the full text of the agreement, it is hard to say for certain,” says an OVD-Info expert.
What this could mean for Russians
The agreement itself does not introduce a single approach to punishment for extremism or terrorism across all six countries. The laws and legal criteria for prosecution remain different in each of them.
According to OVD-Info’s lawyers, CIS countries already exchange information about people prosecuted in Russia under terrorism and extremism charges, regardless of whether human rights defenders consider such prosecution to be politically motivated. If a person is put on an interstate wanted list, they can be detained in another CIS country, after which the Russian authorities have the right to seek their extradition.
Moreover, the transfer of information affects not only freedom of movement. As lawyers note, banks in different countries sometimes block accounts or refuse to serve people after learning that they have been added to the Rosfinmonitoring list.
Russians are already being detained in CIS countries
This new agreement was not required for this: Russia and other CIS countries have long cooperated via interstate searches and extradition procedures, and human rights defenders have also recorded cases of people being handed over outside regular legal mechanisms.
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are among the countries where OVD-Info experts have previously recorded cases of transnational repression and informal cooperation with Russian authorities. At the same time, Armenia did not sign the new agreement. According to an OVD-Info expert, there have so far been no recorded cases of Armenia handing people over to Russia in politically motivated cases.
Here are a few examples of Russians being prosecuted in CIS countries:
- In September 2024, Evgeny Nakaznenko, a Russian national who had lived in Kazakhstan for many years and protested against the war, was detained at the airport in Almaty, a major city in Kazakhstan. He had been placed on a wanted list in Russia, after which a Kazakhstan court put Nakaznenko in extradition detention. Later, Kazakhstan refused to grant him asylum.
- In August 2025, Yulia Yemelyanova, a former volunteer at Alexey Navalny’s St Petersburg office, was detained in Almaty during a layover en route from Georgia to Vietnam. Russia is seeking her extradition in connection with a criminal case over the alleged theft of a taxi driver’s phone. In January, the Kazakhstan Prosecutor General’s Office granted the extradition request; on 24 September, the cassation court upheld the refusal to grant the activist asylum.
- Chechen activist Mansur Movlayev criticised Ramzan Kadyrov and spoke out about abductions and torture at the hands of security forces. In 2023, he fled Russia for Kyrgyzstan, where he was detained for unlawfully crossing the border and sentenced to six months in a penal colony followed by deportation to Russia. However, after his release, Movlayev left the country himself and relocated to Kazakhstan. In May 2025, he was detained there and placed in extradition detention, and in January 2026 the Kazakhstan Prosecutor General’s Office approved his extradition to Russia. In September, Movlayev attempted suicide twice: first in a remand centre and then in hospital after being admitted. After the first attempt, he left a note stating that he feared torture and death if returned to Russia.