Ukrainian blogger and nationalist activist Mykhailo Orieshnikov, who had been detained in Indonesia on Russia’s extradition request, was released and returned to Ukraine on Nov. 28.
Orieshnikov is a former Russian citizen and nationalist activist who fled Russia for Ukraine in 2014 and later became a Ukrainian citizen. In Russia, he was convicted in absentia for assault, and placed on the Interpol wanted list.
He was detained in Jakarta in early November, and spent three weeks in jail.
Ukrainian foreign ministry considers Orieshnikov a victim of political persecution by Russia, and has fought for his release.
“We returned Ukrainian citizen Mykhailo Orieshnikov from Indonesia, where Russia was trying to capture him using Interpol for its political persecution,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba posted on Twitter on Nov. 28. “We did not allow it to be done. The plane with Oreshnikov is already flying to Kyiv.”
“Ukrainian passport = protection of the Ukrainian state,” Kuleba added.
Orieshnikov was detained in Indonesia on Nov. 6, 2020 at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta at the request of the National Central Bureau of Interpol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
Ukrainian journalists reported that Ukrainian documents were confiscated from Orieshnikov upon detention in Jakarta, and he was recorded as a citizen of Russia.
Before fleeing Russia for Ukraine in 2014, Orieshnikov was an active member of the Russian far-right nationalist organization Restruct, led by a Russian neo-Nazi Maksym Martsynkevych, also known under the pseudonym Tesak.
In Russia, Orieshnikov opposed the regime of President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
On Nov. 23, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Indonesia Volodymyr Pakhil met with the leadership of the National Central Bureau of Interpol in Indonesia and reported on cases of abuse by Russia.
Orieshnikov landed in Kyiv on Nov. 28, according to his Instagram account. He posted a video of himself at Boryspil International Airport near Kyiv.
“Ukraine defended me,” Orieshnikov said on his Instagram stories. “All my friends, journalists, the (Ukrainian) foreign ministry did a lot, so thank you all.”
