Kyrgyzstan detains Russian House employee for alleged mercenary recruitment

Kyrgyzstan has detained Natalia Sekerina, an employee of the Russian House cultural center in Osh, along with three others including Sergey Lapushkin from the Osh mayor’s office, on suspicion of recruiting individuals to fight as mercenaries in armed conflicts abroad, specifically in Russia’s war against Ukraine. The arrests were made following a court order in Bishkek, with the suspects held in pretrial detention until mid-June as part of a criminal investigation led by the State Committee for National Security. The charges include recruitment, financing, and training of mercenaries for use in foreign armed conflicts or actions aimed at overthrowing state power, offenses that carry severe prison sentences under Kyrgyz law. Authorities have not disclosed details about the identities of the other detainees or the full extent of the alleged recruitment network. The Russian House, where Sekerina worked, operates under the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Rossotrudnichestvo, which promotes Russian cultural influence abroad. The Kyrgyz security services have declined to comment further on the ongoing investigation.