Russia just used its own alliance to trap a Ukrainian grandmother in Kazakhstan
1 hour ago · 2 October 2026Share
Pedestrian corridor connecting Airport Station with Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport's domestic terminal. File photo. Kristianmusic · CC0
Russia just used an alliance it leads to trap a Ukrainian grandmother in Kazakhstan.
Her name is Liubov Rozhanska.
She flew into Astana airport a day ago, coming from Istanbul. She was there to pick up her grandson and bring him home to Ukraine.
Instead, Kazakh police detained her.
Why? Because Russia asked them to. The request came through the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a security alliance Russia runs, and Kazakhstan belongs to it too.
So now she's sitting in a pretrial detention centre in Astana. A court hearing is expected within three days.
And here's what she's actually facing. Possible extradition to Russia, over accusations of child abduction.
She has never set foot in Russia. Not once.
So who is this child, and why does Russia want her this badly?
He was born in Odesa in 2018. His mother, Alla Andreyeva, took him to Russia's Kaliningrad region in 2021, before the full-scale invasion, to join her second husband.
Then in 2022, Alla Andreyeva gave up her own Ukrainian citizenship, and her son's too. Both took Russian citizenship instead.
The boy's Ukrainian father didn't stop there. He sued for custody.
In March 2025, Ukraine's Supreme Court ruled that the child must live in Odesa, with his father.
Russia never recognised that ruling. The boy stayed in Kaliningrad.
Then this summer, something shifted. The boy's stepfather and his father — the boy's step-grandfather — reached out to Liubov Rozhanska. They offered to hand the boy over, so he could go home to his father and grandmother in Ukraine.
She agreed to meet them in Kazakhstan.
But she had no idea what was already moving behind her back.
A criminal case accusing her of trying to abduct the boy had been opened in Russia back in 2023. Three years before anyone even mentioned a handover.
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Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data showing Kazakhstani capital Astana City and vicinities.European Space Agency · CC BY-SA 3.0 igo
On 27 August this year, a court in Kaliningrad ordered her detention.
And her lawyers say Russia's FSB in Kaliningrad was already preparing paperwork to put her on a wanted list and push for extradition, while the handover was still being discussed.
So here's what her lawyers are saying: the offer to hand the boy back may have been bait. Timed to pull her into a country where Russia's request could actually reach her.
Alexei Pryanishnikov is her Russian lawyer. He says quote "a fairly well-planned operation". He says the FSB set her up.
He also told reporters he sees a political context connected with the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Her Kazakh lawyer, Riza Nurbayeva, backs that up. She confirms Liubov Rozhanska never entered Russia, and didn't know about the criminal case or the detention order before she travelled.
Russia's FSB hasn't said a word. Neither has Kazakhstan.
Ukraine's government is already in it though. Viktor Maiko, Ukraine's ambassador to Kazakhstan, is calling this an outright provocation.
He says Ukraine's embassy is working with Kazakh officials to get her released as fast as it can.
He says Ukraine categorically opposes sending her to Russia. He says her health and her life would be at real risk there.
That's Ukraine's own ambassador saying handing her over could be dangerous.
And this case doesn't stand alone. Ukraine's government has documented more than 20,000 cases of children being unlawfully taken or forcibly moved to Russia since the war began. This case hasn't officially been added to that count. But it follows the same shape. A Ukrainian child moved to Russia. Anyone trying to bring him home running straight into Russia's legal system instead.
So what happens now? That's up to Kazakhstan.
It's in the same alliance that passed on Russia's request. And it hasn't said whether it will extradite her.
Nobody has said where the boy is right now, or what state he's in.
And nobody has confirmed whether that handover offer was ever real, or whether it was a trap, like her lawyers say.
Right now, Liubov Rozhanska is in a cell in Astana, waiting on a court date. The grandson she flew in to collect is still in Russia.
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