Yerevan did not extradite the opposition journalist Ilya Danilov to Russia.

The Armenian government rejected the request of Russian law enforcement agencies for the extradition of opposition journalist Ilya Danilov. After a month of forced waiting in Yerevan, the former coordinator of Navalny's Lipetsk headquarters returned to Tbilisi.

Journalist Ilya Danilov was detained in Armenia on August 1, 2026, while trying to reset the 365-day legal stay in Georgia.

At the Armenian border checkpoint, it turned out that the journalist was wanted in Russia on criminal charges for participating in the activities of an extremist organization and spreading fakes about the Russian army. In addition, he was included in the list of terrorists and extremists by Rosfinmonitoring, reports Newsgeorgia.

Armenian security forces detained Danilov for several hours, after which he was released on a signature, but was prohibited from leaving the country until the legal review of the Russian request was completed. Ultimately, permission was obtained recently: Armenia refused to extradite the politically persecuted Russian.

The refusal to extradite Danilov is not the first case where Yerevan ignores Moscow's requests for the extradition of dissidents. In June 2026, mathematician Mikhail Verbitsky, included in the list of terrorists and extremists by Rosfinmonitoring, also arrested in absentia by the Nagatinsky court of Moscow for justifying terrorism, was able to fly from Yerevan to Tel Aviv after the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office allowed him to leave the country.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that Russian citizens who moved to Armenia periodically face requests for search and extradition demands. Thus, on October 21, 2024, security forces in Yerevan detained Russian citizen Roman Shklov, who is suspected in Russia of publicly justifying terrorism. On August 5, 2025, it became known that the Russian authorities issued a request for Shklov's extradition.

In May, upon entering Armenia, Kazani activist Mark Serov, living in Georgia, was detained; he is wanted in his homeland for vandalism motivated by political hatred. He was allowed to leave for Guzia.

In October 2025, it became known that Russian citizen Lilia Manyukhina was arrested in Armenia, convicted after posting anti-war leaflets in Moscow. Human rights activists noted that Armenia regularly rejects Russia's extradition requests due to political motives of persecution, but in Manyukhina's case, the courts did not see political motives.

* the activities of the organizations are recognized as extremist and banned in Russia.

** the activities of the company Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.