Russia has issued an arrest warrant for the former Ukrainian ambassador to Kazakhstan, whose anti-Russian remarks caused a diplomatic row in 2022, state media reported Monday.
Pyotr Vrublevsky was charged with “inciting hatred or enmity” and “humiliation of human dignity,” according to the TASS news agency.
The case against him is linked to his 2022 interview with Kazakh blogger Dias Kuzairov, during which the then-ambassador said Ukrainian soldiers should “kill as many Russians as possible.”
“We are trying to kill as many of them as possible. The more Russians we kill now, the less our children will have to kill,” Vrublevsky said in the interview.
Kazakh officials called Vrublevsky’s remarks “incompatible with the activities of the ambassador of a foreign state” and sent him an official note of protest shortly after the interview aired in August 2022.
Vrublevsky was recalled from his post by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky two months later.
Moscow had summoned Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Russia to demand an official explanation for why Astana had not expelled Vrublevsky.
Russia added the former ambassador to Kazakhstan to its list of “terrorists and extremists” in February.
Upon extradition to Russia, Vrublevsky would be placed in pre-trial detention for two months, according to a court ruling cited by TASS.
If convicted, he could face up to six years in prison.
