Activist Sherchenkov held a picket in Yerevan in support of Sidiki.
Alexander Sherchenkov held a solo picket outside the Russian embassy in Armenia demanding the release of Ruslan Sidiki, a prisoner in Russia who complained of torture after his arrest.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," St. Petersburg activist Alexander Sherchenkov has repeatedly held pickets outside the Russian embassy in Yerevan demanding the release of prisoners in Russia, whose prosecution he considers unjust. On February 7, he held a solo picket in support of Nikita Oleynik, arrested in the "Tyumen case."
On March 16, Alexander Sherchenkov held a solo picket near the Russian embassy in Yerevan in support of Ruslan Sidiki, who was imprisoned in Russia, RusNews reports.
"Ruslan is spending his birthday in captivity. The criminal case against Ruslan Sidiki is political persecution. I demand an end to the criminal and political persecution of Ruslan Sidiki and all political prisoners!" "— the publication quoted Sherchenkov as saying.
As a reminder, on June 14, 2025, the activist also held a picket in support of Sidiki, who was sentenced to 29 years in prison on May 23, 2025, on charges of terrorism. After his arrest, Sidiki reported being tortured by security forces.
Ruslan Sidiki is a citizen of Russia and Italy. According to investigators, in November 2023, he detonated an improvised explosive device on a railway track in the Ryazan region. The explosion damaged 300 meters of track, derailed 19 freight cars, and caused minor injuries to the driver. Russian Railways estimated the damage at 30 million rubles. According to his lawyer, Sidiki admitted guilt in the bombing, but was tortured after his arrest, prompting the defense to file a complaint with the Investigative Committee, Kommersant reported on February 26, 2025.
Alexander Sherchenkov is an activist and anarchist who flew to Yerevan from St. Petersburg in June 2022 after facing the risk of criminal prosecution for discrediting the army. This risk was related to Sherchenkov's repeated appearances at protests with a pacifist poster, the Russian-language publication Lava Media reported on December 24, 2024. At the end of February 2022, after the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, the flow of people leaving Russia increased. Armenia became one of the destination countries, according to the Caucasian Knot report "Why did Russians go to Armenia?".
An increase in the number of Russian citizens traveling to Armenia was also recorded in September-October 2022, after the announcement of mobilization in Russia. In the first 10 months of 2022, 1.4 million people arrived in Armenia, and almost half of them were Russian citizens.