Lubinets Urges Kazakhstan To Prevent Extradition Of Ukrainian Citizen To Russia

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) According to Ukrinform, Lubinets said this in a Facebook post.

"I received an appeal from Ukrainian citizen Liubov Rozhanska, who was detained in Kazakhstan at the request of the Russian Federation. Liubov arrived in Kazakhstan for humanitarian reasons – to take her minor grandson and return him to Ukraine. Instead, she herself ended up in custody over a criminal case that Russia opened back in 2023," the ombudsman said.

Lubinets said Rozhanska was effectively lured to Kazakhstan through deception. The child's so-called "new" relatives in Russia, working with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), contacted the woman and tried to lure her out of Ukraine so that she would come and pick up the child herself. The woman believed them and traveled to Astana, unaware that preparations for her detention were already underway in Russia.

"Handing a Ukrainian woman over to Russian law enforcement agencies would pose a direct and serious threat to her personal safety, health and respect for her fundamental rights. We know all too well what happens to Ukrainians who fall into the hands of the Russian system," Lubinets said.

"Therefore, I immediately appealed to Kazakhstan's Ombudsman Artur Lastayev, urging him to prevent any extradition, handover or forcible transfer of Liubov Rozhanska to Russia. I also held a separate phone call with him," Lubinets said.

Read also: MFA asks Kazakhstan not to grant Russia's extradition request for detained Ukrainian

He is insisting on an examination of the conditions of Rozhanska's detention and the legal grounds for depriving her of her liberty, as well as ensuring full access to her by Ukrainian diplomatic and consular representatives and her lawyer.

Lubinets noted that the case has another extremely troubling aspect – it concerns a Ukrainian child.

According to available information, the boy's mother took him to Russia back in 2021. In 2022, she obtained Russian citizenship for herself and her child. At the same time, in March 2025, the Supreme Court of Ukraine determined Odesa as the child's place of residence.

The ombudsman clarified that the grandmother traveled to retrieve the Ukrainian child and bring him home, and it was then that she herself was detained in connection with a case initiated by Russia.

"This once again shows how dangerous it is to try to retrieve children who are in Russia on your own," Lubinets said.

He also urged people whose children are in Russia or in temporarily occupied territories not to try to resolve the matter on their own, but to contact official Ukrainian state institutions.

In particular, the Ombudsman's Office facilitates the return of Ukrainian children who have been deported or forcibly transferred, including from foreign countries, in cases where documents are missing or various legal issues are involved. The hotline number is 1678.

Traveling to Russia independently or attempting to retrieve a child through third countries may create serious risks and jeopardize the child's subsequent return, Lubinets said.

The ombudsman also published a video purportedly showing the boy boarding a plane to Kazakhstan. He noted that the video had been deliberately staged to lure the woman out.

Ukrinform reported earlier that Ukrainian citizen Liubov Rozhanska was detained at Astana airport in Kazakhstan at Russia's request after traveling there to retrieve her grandson and take him to his father in Odesa.

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