Send a letter of Support for Conscientious Objector Semyon Subbotin
By sending letters of support to the Prosecutor General of Armenia we hope to help conscientious objector Semyon Subbotin get to any safe country and therfore to safety from persecution by the Russian military.
You can help by copying the letter the Peace and Service Network has drafted and sending it signed as an individual or a group.
Below you will find the draft letter (petition) in support of Semyon Subbotin, who is curently in Armenia.
This is the website of the office: https://www.prosecutor.am/en
If you plan to send it as an e-mail you can send it here: info@prosecutor.am
If you want to send it by post the address is: 5 Vazgen Sargsyan street 0010 Yerevan Republic of Armenia
Madam Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan.
Dear Madam Prosecutor General,
We write in support of the petition of Semyon Ruslanovich Subbotin (born 4 August 1999), a citizen of the Russian Federation who is currently residing in the Republic of Armenia, for permission to leave Armenia in order to seek international protection in a third country.
Mr Subbotin is a conscientious objector and is currently prosecuted under Article 337, Part 5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for unauthorised abandonment of his unit. Mr Subbotin was conscripted into military service in the Russian Federation on 7 December 2021 under an alternative-military contract, before the outbreak of the attack on Ukraine, and was attached to the Strategic Missile Forces (Teikovo, Ivanovo Region). He fully served that contract and was unwilling to continue serving following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 on grounds of conscience; nevertheless his commanders sought, by threats, to coerce him into signing a new contract, thereby preventing the termination of his service at the end of the term.
When his contract expired on 6 December 2023, his commanders continued efforts, by threats, to compel him to sign a new contract, but he was unwilling to do so. However, under the terms of the presidential mobilisation decree he was forcibly retained in his unit. Mr Subbotin repeatedly attempted to lawfully terminate his service: his discharge applications were rejected and an attempted transfer to the Ministry of Internal Affairs — where he was registered — was blocked by his commanders citing mobilisation. Russian legislation provides no effective procedure for servicemen to end their service on grounds of conscience, particularly in cases of selective objection.
In September 2024, facing an imminent threat of deployment to the zone of hostilities (his name appeared in a command order), he left his unit and travelled to Armenia; a criminal case under Article 337 of the Russian Criminal Code was subsequently opened against him. Pressure on his family has continued, including threats against his underage brother.
Having learned that Russian military personnel had arrived in Armenia to search for and detain him, Mr Subbotin voluntarily presented himself to Armenian authorities on 17 July 2025. He was placed in 72-hour detention; the Russian Federation was officially notified of his presence in Armenia and had the opportunity to submit a request for extradition within the statutory forty-day period. No extradition request was submitted within that period. Nevertheless, Mr Subbotin does not feel safe in Armenia: there is credible information that Russian servicemen are present in the country with the purpose of abducting him and forcibly returning him to Russia, despite the protests of the Armenian government, as occurred in the case of Dmitry Setakov in December 2023.
Instead of following proper procedures — perhaps aware of Armenia’s 2023 Trostyansky precedent — Russian military personnel on 20 July 2025 demanded that he be handed over from temporary detention into their custody. Armenian authorities rightly refused and took measures to secure his safe release.
Nevertheless, Mr Subbotin is currently forced into hiding, fearing that further abduction attempts are inevitable so long as he remains in Armenia.
We therefore ask you, within your powers, to lift all existing legal restrictions on Mr Subbotin’s freedom of movement and to take all possible measures to facilitate his safe departure from Armenia so that he may seek international protection in a European country of his choice.
Yours sincerely,
(Name, surname, contact details, signature)
