Revealed: Russia's Manipulation of Interpol to Silencing Dissent

Mon Feb 02 2026 20:43:50 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Recent leaks expose Russia's systematic misuse of Interpol's wanted lists to target political dissidents, journalists, and businessmen. The data highlights significant concerns about the integrity of international policing and the impact on individuals fleeing persecution.

A whistleblower's leak has unveiled that Russia has exploited Interpol's resources to issue arrest requests against critics, including political opponents and journalists, under the guise of legal claims. Analysis shows that Russia has the highest number of complaints about its requests among member states, raising alarm about the misuse of international police cooperation.

Thousands of files provided by a whistleblower at Interpol expose for the first time the extent of Russia's apparent abuse of the international policing agency to target its critics abroad.

The data provided to the BBC World Service and French investigative outlet, Disclose, reveals that Russia is using Interpol's wanted lists to request the arrest of people such as political opponents, businessmen, and journalists, claiming that they have committed crimes.

Analysis of data also suggests that over the past decade, Interpol's own independent complaints unit has received more complaints about Russia than anyone else - three times more than the next highest country, Turkey.

Additionally, it indicates complaints against Moscow's requests have led to more cases being overturned than for any other country.

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Interpol introduced extra checks on Moscow's activity to prevent any potential misuse of Interpol's channels in relation to the targeting of individuals within or beyond the conflict in Ukraine.

However, the leaked documents suggest these did not prevent Russia from abusing the system, and the whistleblower stated some stricter measures were quietly dropped in 2025.

In response, Interpol stated that it has systems in place to mitigate misuse and is committed to exposing criminal activity worldwide. Yet, Igor Pestrikov, a Russian businessman whose life changed drastically after being placed on the wanted list, described the relentless stress and paranoia stemming from such a notice.

The revelations uncover systematic issues within Interpol's operations regarding Russia, pointing out the agency's struggle to maintain its integrity instead of catering to political agendas of member states.