U.S.-born British fund manager and Kremlin critic Bill Browder was arrested in Spain on a Russian Interpol arrest warrant on Wednesday before being released later in the day.
Russia has labeled Browder a national security threat, banned him from the country in 2005 and tried him in absentia for tax evasion in 2013. Russia placed Browder on an Interpol wanted list last fall — its fifth attempt — after Interpol called it a misuse of the system and urged member states to ignore notices on Browder.
Browder tweeted on Wednesday that he was detained by Spanish police in Madrid on a police warrant.
“They won’t tell me which station,” he wrote in a follow-up.
Browder’s efforts have helped the United States and other Western countries, including most recently the United Kingdom, pass legislation intending to punish Russian officials involved in or profiting from human rights abuses.
Later on Wednesday, Browder tweeted that he had been released by Spanish police after the "Interpol General Secretary in Lyon advised them not to honor the new Russian Interpol Red Notice."
