A Russian blogger Viktor Vasilyev has been arrested in Kyrgyzstan on suspicion of recruiting mercenaries, RIA Novosti reported yesterday, citing the press service of a court in Bishkek’s Pervomaisky district.
It was noted that the blogger has been detained for the duration of the investigation until June 17.
According to RIA Novosti, he is charged under two articles of Kyrgyzstan’s Penal Code: Article 43 (3) — responsibility of contractors and assisting offenders, made by group of persons and group of persons by previous concert; and Article 416 (1) — complicity in the recruitment of mercenaries to participate in armed conflicts abroad."
Earlier, Ms. Natalia Sekerina, an employee of the Russian House’s branch in Kyrgyzstan’s Osh district, was detained. She is also suspected of being involved in recruiting mercenaries for participation in armed conflicts abroad.
Under the law, she faces up to ten years in prison. The court has placed Sekerina under arrest for the duration of the investigation until June 17.
"Rossotrudnichestvo confirmed that Kyrgyz citizen Sekerina has worked at the Russian House since 2024. The organization emphasized that the Russian Center for Science and Culture (Russian House, a branch of Rossotrudnichestvo) operates exclusively within the framework defined by the intergovernmental agreement between the two countries," RIA Novosti noted.
Rossotrudnichestvo head Yevgeny Primakov stated that the arrest of the Russian House employee in Kyrgyzstan is a provocation.
Meanwhile, Meduza reports that Marina Akhmedova, the editor-in-chief of the Regnum news agency, noted that Vasilyev is an author for the publication and an expert on Africa and Central Asia. According to her, he is involved in the same case as Natalia Sekerina, the employee of the Russian House in Osh, whose arrest was made public on April 23.
It was also reported that the case involves Sergei Lapushkin, a press service employee from the Osh City Hall, and two other individuals whose names were not disclosed.
Meduza writes that Viktor Vasilyev is the author of the Telegram channel "Smiling and Waving." The Dosye (Dossier) Center reported in 2023 that Vasilyev previously went by the last name Lukovenko.
In 2011, he was sentenced to eight years in a high-security prison for the murder of a 58-year-old native of Sri Lanka on the day of the "Russian March."
Five years later, Lukovenko was released on parole.
BBC’s Russian Service reported that Lukovenko was one of the political technologists for the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
After Prigozhin's death, Lukovenko was involved in strengthening Russian influence in Burkina Faso.
The publication also described him as a radical nationalist. The Dosye Center reported that Lukovenko traveled to Kyiv on assignment from the GRU shortly before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Center's material labeled Lukovenko as a neo-Nazi.
