In Kazakhstan, Ukrainian national Liubov Rozhanska, who had arrived in Astana to pick up her grandson, was detained at Russia’s request. The Embassy of Ukraine immediately appealed to the Kazakh side with a request not to grant Russia’s extradition request and also requested permission to visit the citizen, who is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center. The press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told UNN.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware of this situation. Immediately after receiving information about the citizen’s detention upon her arrival in Astana, the Embassy of Ukraine in Kazakhstan urgently appealed to the Kazakh side with a request not to grant Russia’s extradition request. In addition, Ukrainian consuls requested permission to visit the citizen, who is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center, and received preliminary approval
Ukrainian diplomats are also in contact with the victim’s lawyers and are providing the necessary assistance.
We expect the Kazakh side to fairly examine the circumstances of the situation and are working to protect the lawful rights and interests of the detained Ukrainian citizen. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Consular Service Department, and the Embassy of Ukraine in Kazakhstan are keeping the situation under special control
Context
As lawyer Oleksii Pryanishnikov told DW, Liubov Rozhanska wanted to pick up her grandson in Astana, where he was supposed to be brought from Russia. In 2021, before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian national Alla Andreieva (Sonchyk), who lived in Odesa with a child born in 2018 from her first marriage, went with the child to Russia’s Kaliningrad region. Her second husband’s Russian family lives there, and she remained there.
Shortly after the outbreak of the war, in March 2022, she filed an application with the Russian Interior Ministry stating that she wanted to renounce Ukrainian citizenship for herself and her child. In the same year, 2022, Alla Andreieva obtained Russian citizenship for herself and her son.
As a result of court proceedings in Ukraine initiated by the child’s father, the Supreme Court of Ukraine determined in March 2025 that the boy’s place of residence was Odesa, where his father, a citizen of Ukraine, resides.
In July 2026, the boy’s mother’s new husband, Vitalii Andreiev, and this man’s father, Viacheslav Andreiev, with whom the child lived, contacted Liubov Rozhanska, according to the lawyer, offering to hand the boy over to his Ukrainian father and to her, his grandmother.
On August 27, 2026, active negotiations were underway between the Andreievs and Rozhanska. At that time, according to lawyer Pryanishnikov, a ruling had already been issued by the Central District Court of the city of Kaliningrad. The document was issued following consideration of a motion by the head of the investigative group of the investigative department of Russia’s Federal Security Service in the Kaliningrad region to impose pre-trial detention on Liubov Rozhanska in a case concerning the abduction of a child.
Judging by the documents that Russia sent as part of the extradition process through the CSTO, in parallel with the negotiations, investigative units of the FSB in the Kaliningrad region were preparing documents for Rozhanska’s extradition and placement on a wanted list. However, according to the lawyer, the woman was very attached to the child, so, despite the warnings, she went to Astana, where she was detained.