Astonishing Russian-Style Tourism
People whom international investigations have linked to the use of some of the most dangerous substances on Earth can leave Russia without hindrance.
In 2006, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in London with polonium-210, a rare radioactive substance whose traces were later found in more than forty locations, including hotels, restaurants, airplanes, and vehicles. Police officers and civilians were exposed to radioactive contamination. A British inquiry and the European Court of Human Rights concluded that Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun were responsible for the murder and that the crime was linked to the Russian state.
In 2018, former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury, United Kingdom. The attack involved the nerve agent Novichok. According to the British investigation, a dose as small as one-sixth of a grain of salt can be fatal. The poison was applied to the front-door handle of Skripal’s home. Not only the Skripals but also police officers were affected. Later, British citizen Dawn Sturgess died after coming into contact with a bottle containing remnants of the substance. Investigators stated that the remaining quantity could have been sufficient to kill thousands of people. In 2025, a British inquiry again stated that there was compelling evidence of Russian state involvement and that the operation had been authorized at the highest level.
And what happened to the alleged perpetrators of these operations?
They did not receive lengthy prison sentences. They were not placed in solitary confinement. They did not endure humiliating investigations or years behind bars.
One of the figures implicated in the Litvinenko case, Andrei Lugovoi, became a member of the Russian State Duma.
But try making a different kind of journey.
Not carrying radioactive material across a border. Not transporting a nerve agent. Not bringing a substance capable of endangering thousands of people.
Simply travel to visit your father after he has suffered a heart attack.
That is exactly what Mikhail Loshchinin, a citizen of both Belgium and Russia who had lived in Europe for many years, did. In July 2025, he crossed the Russian border on a motorcycle on his way to visit his father in Saint Petersburg. During an inspection of his phone, however, FSB officers discovered contacts in Ukraine and old correspondence with a former Ukrainian girlfriend who had asked him for financial help in 2022.
What followed was, according to his relatives and lawyers, a nightmare.
They say that a provocation was first arranged in order to justify his detention. This was followed by informal detention without a clear legal basis. He was later transferred to a detention facility in the Belgorod region where Ukrainian prisoners were being held. According to his account, he was stripped naked, beaten, and deprived of his glasses despite having a prescription of minus eight. Ultimately, he was charged with high treason.
The result: 16 years in prison.
This is what the modern Russian system of values looks like.
If international investigations link a person to the use of radioactive polonium or a nerve agent, that person may still enjoy state protection and a political career.
If, however, someone crosses the border to visit an ailing father, has Ukrainian acquaintances, or maintains old personal correspondence, that person risks spending a significant part of life behind bars.
It is difficult to imagine a clearer illustration of how far the concepts of justice and political expediency can drift apart.
When individuals allegedly involved in internationally notorious poisonings become part of the political establishment, while an apolitical programmer receives sixteen years in prison for personal relationships and correspondence, the question is no longer about a single verdict.
The question is what happens to a country when its authorities can no longer distinguish between crime and loyalty.
When people associated with some of the most dangerous radioactive and chemical poisoning cases receive state protection, political positions, and material rewards, while a man who traveled to visit his recovering father receives humiliation, beatings, and sixteen years in prison for helping an acquaintance from Ukraine, the problem is no longer limited to individual court decisions.
The problem is that the system begins to regard as dangerous not those who threaten others, but those who preserve human ties, compassion, and the willingness to help.
And if humanity becomes a reason for punishment while loyalty becomes grounds for reward, then this is no longer merely a crisis of justice. It is a profound and irreversible moral crisis.
Source: the Memorial Political Prisoners Support Project (Memorial PZK):
Memorial PZK article