The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia has issued a warning this Friday to its nationals traveling to Thailand, urging them to exercise extreme caution in the face of what it describes as a "hunt" for arrests promoted at the behest of the United States.
In an official note, the Russian Foreign Ministry "urges Russian citizens to exercise extreme caution when traveling to Thailand, for both leisure and business purposes, due to the high risk of detention or arrest in that country at the request of US law enforcement and intelligence services."
Moscow further emphasizes that "we strongly recommend that Russian citizens who have the slightest reason to believe that they may be subject to criminal proceedings by the US authorities refrain from traveling to Thailand, a country that has a bilateral extradition treaty with the United States, and avoid layovers at local airports."
The Ministry stresses that Thailand, described as a "friendly country and popular among Russian tourists," has become, according to its version, one of the scenarios where Washington "has undertaken a real 'hunt' for Russians."
In this context, Moscow denounces that "the United States acts aggressively, disregarding Thai authorities and carrying out special operations to 'capture' our citizens who have attracted their attention for various reasons. Many of those detained face threats from US intelligence agencies, intimidation, and psychological pressure to force confessions."
The Russian government maintains that US "punitive justice" has hardened since the start of the special military operation, a term Moscow uses to refer to the war in Ukraine, and links this hardening to the current scenario of confrontation.
Thus, the Foreign Ministry warns that "with the imposition of numerous extraterritorial sanctions against strategic sectors of the national economy, many Russians, without even realizing it, run the risk of becoming targets of the US authorities," and therefore insists on its calls to avoid travel to Thailand if there is any possible exposure to charges in the United States.