A journalist facing criminal charges for vocally supporting priests who have opposed Russia’s in Ukraine has become the latest addition to Russia’s Federal watch list on religious grounds.
Kseniya Luchenko, an Orthodox Russian native, is currently based outside Russia, where she remotely runs a Telegram channel which reports on the Russian Orthodox Church and includes vocal support of priests who have opposed the war against Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Luchenko was placed on the country's Watch List after a criminal investigation was launched based on "public dissemination" and of expressing "false information on the use of the Armed Forces", according to Norwegian human rights organisation Forum 18.
Luchenko joins a list of those on the Federal Watch List who have been charged for exercising “freedom of religion or belief”, according to the organisation.
According to the report, 44 of the individuals on the Federal list are there on religious-based charges and include Christians, Muslim Nursi readers and Jehovah’s Witnesses, among others.
Additionally, in the list are those wanted by countries friendly to Russia, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan.
The Interior Ministry did not respond to questions about the list.
Yuliya Burenina, of the National Central Bureau (NCB) for Interpol of Russia's Interior Ministry, refused to comment on the situation and the issuing of several international appeals for arrests, stating she was not “authorised to speak to journalists”.
While Luchenko has not been issued an Interpol Red Notice, she runs the risk of imprisonment and prosecution if she is discovered in Russia or in one of the countries friendly with the state.
According to human rights activists, including Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Wanted List is representative of a wider “global pattern of transnational repression”.