{
  "id": 11494354,
  "title": "Kazakhstan detains Ukrainian woman at Russia’s request after she traveled to Astana to bring her grandson home",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/kazakhstan-detains-ukrainian-woman-at-russias-request-after-she",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-02T17:43:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Insider",
    "slug": "the-insider",
    "url": "https://theins.press/en/news/297853"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Ukrainian national Liubov Rozhanska has been apprehended in Kazakhstan at the behest of Russia. According to her lawyer, Alexei Pryanishnikov, Rozhanska traveled to Kazakhstan to reclaim her grandson from Russia, as he is among the numerous children Ukraine claims are being unlawfully held by the nation. Pryanishnikov suggested that this case might be the first instance of Kazakhstan extraditing a Ukrainian citizen to Russia since the ongoing full-scale invasion. It is noteworthy that two other Ukrainians currently serve jail time in Russia on espionage charges for attempting to retrieve the same child in 2023. Rozhanska flew from Istanbul to Astana on October 1, but was immediately detained at Russia's request upon her arrival. She had journeyed to Kazakhstan to collect her 8-year-old grandson, who is on Ukraine's list of children allegedly abducted by Russia. The lawyer revealed that the boy is on Ukraine's list of children unlawfully held in Russia. The conflict began in 2021; initially, it was a regular family dispute. Ukrainian citizen Alla Andreeva (formerly Sochnik) was residing in Odesa with her child, born in 2018 during a prior marriage. In 2020, Andreeva married Vitaly Andreev, a Russian sailor she met in Odesa. In August 2021, Andreeva, along with her son and Russian husband, journeyed to Kaliningrad ostensibly to visit his parents, but they never returned to Ukraine. As Pryanishnikov elaborated, the father permitted the boy to depart temporarily, under the condition that he be returned to Ukraine. However, once they departed, complications arose, and the return was repeatedly postponed. In March 2022, the child's mother petitioned Russia's Interior Ministry, declaring her desire to relinquish Ukrainian citizenship for her and her son. Both subsequently obtained Russian citizenship promptly. Disputes ensued in Kaliningrad courts regarding the father's contact with the child. The boy's new Russian family engaged various experts, including psychologists, who assessed in their evaluations that the child should not interact with his father due to his Ukrainian citizenship. They argued that how could he regularly communicate with his father via video call if a Ukrainian flag might be visible in the background? These arguments were reinforced by references to Putin's decree initiating the 'special military operation,' statements regarding the boy's Russian patriotism, and so forth. Eventually, a Kaliningrad court ruled that the father, an active-duty Ukrainian military personnel, could visit his son during the summer holidays, but only in the Kaliningrad Region. Negotiations regarding the child's return to his father in Ukraine resumed in summer 2026. This time, the boy's Russian relatives proposed ceasing mutual claims and transferring the child to his father as mandated by Ukraine's Supreme Court in 2025. The exchange was scheduled to occur in Kazakhstan. However, as Pryanishnikov explained, the night prior to the flight from Kaliningrad to Astana, the boy's stepfather and stepgrandfather recorded a video at the airport, purportedly bidding farewell to the child for a flight to Kazakhstan. The boy was to travel with his stepfather, but ultimately, the journey did not occur. Pryanishnikov inferred that the negotiations were influenced by FSB control. Initially, the Russian family insisted on Kazakhstan as the destination. Furthermore, they continually postponed the handover. Lastly, it was discovered that the meeting in Astana was arranged precisely at the time a Kaliningrad court, at the FSB's request, issued an arrest warrant for Rozhanska in her absence. The attorney contended that this case carries several political implications. Firstly, it involves a child named in Ukraine's list of children unlawfully held in Russia. He further stated, \"Throughout the war, there has been the issue of Russia seizing Ukrainian children and erasing their Ukrainian identity. Individuals may assume they are being taken away in trucks at gunpoint. Yet, that is not typically the case. Most of the instances I come across, including those reported by the Ukrainian ombudsman's office, involve families that have fractured. Roughly speaking, relatives end up on opposing sides. There was an instance where the father was serving in Ukraine's armed forces while relatives on the mother's side took the child. The parents subsequently divorced, and the child was handed over to the mother's family in Russia. Consequently, the father sought to reclaim his son. The second dimension pertains to the broader reach sought by Russian security agencies engaged in political policing.\"",
  "summary": "Ukrainian citizen Liubov Rozhanska has been detained in Kazakhstan at Russia’s request, lawyer Alexei Pryanishnikov told The Insider . Rozhanska had flown to Kazakhstan to retrieve her grandson, one of the thousands of children whom Ukraine lists as being unlawfully held in Russia. Pryanishnikov said the case could ultimately see Kazakhstan extradite a Ukrainian citizen to Russia for the first…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 5,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Euromaidan Press",
        "title": "Ukrainian grandmother detained in Kazakhstan at Russia’s request while trying to bring grandson back to Ukraine",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/ukrainian-grandmother-detained-in-kazakhstan-at-russias-request-while",
        "published": "2026-10-02T16:03:31.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Meduza (English)",
        "title": "A Ukrainian grandmother came to Kazakhstan to collect her grandson. Instead, she was detained at Russia’s request.",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/a-ukrainian-grandmother-came-to-kazakhstan-to-collect-her-grandson",
        "published": "2026-10-02T16:26:23.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Kyiv Independent",
        "title": "Russia planning to increase 'hybrid warfare' activity in Europe, Ukrainian intelligence warns",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/russia-planning-to-increase-hybrid-warfare-activity-in-europe",
        "published": "2026-10-02T17:38:48.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Interfax-Ukraine",
        "title": "Ukrainian Embassy asks Kazakhstan not to extradite detained Ukrainian woman to Russia – MFA",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/ukrainian-embassy-asks-kazakhstan-not-to-extradite-detained-ukrainian",
        "published": "2026-10-02T18:07:44.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}