On 18 October 2023, Yuliya Fayzrakhmanova, an independent journalist from Russia’s Tatarstan region, said that Russian authorities had opened a criminal case against her for “appeals to terrorism”, according to a Facebook post published by the journalist. Fayzrakhmanova added that security forces had searched the apartment of her parents, who live in Russia, on the same day. She added that her family members had also earlier been summoned for interrogations by security services due to her activities, and that she was afraid of being deported to Russia, as Turkey (where she lives) reportedly allows for extradition to Russia on terrorism charges.
In her Facebook post, the journalist claimed that the case against her was opened for her participation in civil society summits promoting the self-determination of ethnic minorities in Russia, at which she called on ethnic Tatars and Bashkirs to join the Ukrainian army or otherwise help Ukraine in its war against Russia.
The reported opening of the criminal case against Fayzrakhmanova and the search at the apartment of her parents took place on the same day as the arrest in Tatarstan of Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the Prague-based media outlet RFE/RL, who was accused of collecting military-related information in Russia without self-registering as a foreign agent.