Interpol quietly lifted the filter for Russia: Moscow’s requests for politically motivated manhunts are once again reaching EU countries without checks
10:56, 02 февраля 2026 г.
The media have obtained documentary evidence that, as of 2025, Interpol headquarters no longer screens requests from Russia for compliance with the international organization’s search rules. Requests from Russia, without being reviewed at headquarters, are distributed to other countries.
In 2022, after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Interpol publicly announced that it was introducing additional screening of requests from Moscow "to prevent any potential abuse of Interpol’s channels." These screenings stipulated that all requests from Russia would first be submitted to Interpol headquarters, where they would be reviewed and a decision would then be made on whether to proceed with the request and distribute it to other countries. This rule was in effect until 2025, with many requests being rejected at the headquarters screening stage. However, as the BBC recently discovered, "some strict measures were then quietly lifted."
Indeed were able to review case documents for two Russians who believe their persecution in Russia is politically motivated. Both were living peacefully in various European countries when they were suddenly arrested in response to requests from Russia received through Interpol. They were able to review the materials, and in both cases, they contained the following note (see video): "The Interpol General Secretariat has not reviewed this request for compliance with Interpol rules. If you have any doubts regarding compliance with Interpol rules, please report it." This means that Interpol headquarters has stopped reviewing requests from Russia and is simply automatically forwarding them to other countries. These countries are then asked to report any violations of the requests from Russia to headquarters. "In practice, of course, no one asks Interpol headquarters to review requests from Russia. Each country then decides for itself how to handle the request," our source said.
In the case of the two Russians, everything went smoothly. They were detained in Europe, the situation was sorted out there, and both are now free. However, how other countries will react remains a big question.