Mathematician Mikhail Verbitsky, who was arrested at Yerevan airport on June 12, will not be extradited to Russia. Artur Sakuntis, Chairman of the Helsinki Citizens Council “Vanadzor”, told Dogd TV about this.
The human rights activist said: “Unfortunately, there are still legal procedures there. They will finish him and release him. He will not be extradited to Russia.”
In Russia, Verbitsky has been included in the “Rusvin” list for monitoring terrorists and extremists since January 2025. There is an asterisk next to his last name, which means that a case has been opened against him on terrorism charges.
According to Verbitsky’s wife, Yulia Fridman, two criminal cases have been opened against the mathematician in Russia – on charges of “discrediting” the army and justifying terrorism. She added that the terrorism case arose because the mathematician questioned the investigation methods.
Mikhail Verbitsky worked at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics in Moscow, taught at the Faculty of Mathematics at the Higher School of Economics, as well as at the University of Glasgow and the Free Belgian University in Brussels. He is known as a blogger and creator of the blogging platform “Tifaretnik”. In an interview with Kholoud, Verbitsky said that he left Russia in 2015 and lives in Rio de Janeiro, where he holds a professorship at the National Institute of Mathematics.