Kazakhstan Approves Russia’s Request to Extradite Navalny-linked Activist

Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office has granted a request by the Russian government to extradite activist Yulia Yemelyanova, a former volunteer at Alexey Navalny’s headquarters in St. Petersburg, her legal representative Murat Adam told Vlast on February 11.

Yemelyanova, who faces criminal charges in Russia for stealing a phone from a taxi driver, has been in pre-trial detention in Kazakhstan since being detained at an airport in Almaty in September 2025.

The Russian Anti-War Committee, a coalition of exiled Russian opposition figures and activists, who is providing Yemelyanova with legal assistance in Russia, says the case against her is “politically motivated” and "fabricated”.

Yemelyanova’s defense team now plans to appeal the extradition decision to Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court, as the country's authorities are still reviewing Yemelyanova's request for political asylum, which was submitted last September.

“We only have one other option, the Supreme Court,” Adam told Vlast. “We can also appeal to the UN, but only after all other options have been exhausted.”

Kazakhstan’s authorities previously promised to postpone the extradition issue until a decision on her political asylum is made, according to the Anti-War Committee.

“In October 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office guaranteed that the question of extradition would not be considered until all administrative procedures related to obtaining asylum had been completed,” they wrote.

According to Adam and the Anti-War Committee, although Yemelyanova was informed on January 29 that Russia’s extradition request had been approved, they themselves only became aware of the decision during a visit to her pretrial detention center on February 10, nearly two weeks later.

“They only told us yesterday at 11pm. I immediately wrote a post and filed a complaint with the Supreme Court,” Adam said.

Yemelyanova is accused by Russian prosecutors of allegedly stealing a mobile phone worth 12,000 rubles ($155) from a taxi driver, according to leaked information cited by Russian independent news outlet Mediazona.

Since the beginning of 2026, Kazakhstan’s government has agreed to process several other extradition requests made by the Russian government, including two relating to Chechen activist Mansur Movlayev and a deserter from the Russian military, Semyon Bazhukov.

On February 2, it also deported 25-year-old IT specialist Alexander Kachkurkin, who had been resident in Almaty since leaving his native Crimea following its annexation by Russia in 2014. Upon his arrival in Moscow, Kachkurkin was detained by Russian security forces on charges of “high treason,” and now faces life in prison.

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