The Russian Foreign Ministry urged the country’s citizens not to travel to Thailand due to the threat of detention or arrest at the request of the United States.
Thailand is bound by a bilateral treaty with the United States regarding the extradition of criminal suspects. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, “Washington has launched a real hunt for Russians in this country.” The United States is allegedly conducting “special operations to arrest” Russian citizens “without any regard for the Thai authorities,” and many of those detained face threats and pressure.
“The flywheel of punitive justice in Washington,” according to representatives of the Russian authorities, has been working especially intensely since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Against the backdrop of the imposition of sanctions, many Russians, “without realizing it, risk being targeted by the Americans.”
In this regard, the State Department advises Russians who may become “targets for criminal prosecution by US authorities” not only not to travel to Thailand, but also to avoid movements at its airports.
Thailand is already extraditing Russians suspected of crimes in the United States. In November 2025, a “global hacker” with Russian citizenship was arrested. The authorities did not officially name him.
It was assumed that this was a citizen of the Murmansk region, Alexei Lukachev, a senior lieutenant of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation and one of the hackers of the Fancy Bear group. In particular, Lukashev was considered involved in the case of interference in the US presidential elections, hacking the servers of the Democratic National Committee and the emails of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, Thailand is detaining Russians at the request of Russian authorities. In 2024, members of the B-2 group, who opposed the Russian-Ukrainian war, ended up in prison for some time. The Russian authorities demanded their extradition, but did not achieve their goal.