Russian man who served 5 years for social media comment is detained in Belarus while trying to emigrate

A Kaluga resident who had served time on a charge of “justifying terrorism” was detained at the Minsk airport while attempting to emigrate to France, where a humanitarian visa had already been approved for him. The man, Ivan Lyubshin, told the independent Russian human rights monitor OVD-Info that he had planned to fly from Minsk to Armenia and then on to France.

In 2020, Lyubshin was sentenced to five years in prison for a social media comment about the explosion at the FSB headquarters in Arkhangelsk. He had called the perpetrator, Mikhail Zhlobisky, “the hero of the week at minimum” — adding that he had meant only that Zhlobisky had become a news story. Released in March 2025, Lyubshin was placed under administrative supervision for another eight years, requiring him to report to police, remain at home at night, and obtain security service approval before leaving the region.

Lyubshin traveled to Minsk and booked a May 1 flight to Yerevan, where he planned to collect his already-approved French humanitarian visa before emigrating. Belarusian border guards detained him at the airport. The following day he was returned to Russia and handed over to police.

A criminal case has since been opened against him in Russia on charges of evading administrative supervision. His home was searched, and he was issued a travel ban. On May 4, Lyubshin was arrested for 12 days under a report of petty hooliganism — he had allegedly used obscene language in a public place. Before his arrest, he managed to tell OVD-Info that FSB officers had been present during the search and that he feared being charged in connection with an attempt to travel to Ukraine, having heard security service officers mention it.

In late April, it emerged that a Russian military conscript who had received a draft notice had been denied permission to leave Russia through Belarus — the first known case of its kind.

Following Ivan Lyubshin’s detention, the emigrant assistance project Kovcheg (“Ark”) concluded that Belarus was ceasing to be a safe evacuation route for people facing politically motivated persecution who are banned from leaving Russia.