Draft:Sergey Khrabrykh

• Comment: Interesting person, but the sources are not quite up to par at this point. Can you find more sources like Putin's War, with at least a couple paragraphs about this person, not from an advocacy organization? Newspaper articles or discussion in books are usually your best bet. Rusalkii (talk) 18:17, 12 July 2025 (UTC)

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Sergey Anatolyevich Khrabrykh (born March 20, 1979, Nizhnyaya Tura, Sverdlovsk Region, Russia) is a human rights defender, public figure, Ph.D. in Economics, and President of the international human rights association “Asylum Research & Global Assistance” (France).

Biography

Sergey Khrabrykh was born on March 20, 1979, in the town of Nizhnyaya Tura, Sverdlovsk Region, in a large family. He is the fourth child. His father worked as a driver, and his mother was a saleswoman. In 1996, he entered the Saint Petersburg Military Engineering and Technical University (VITU), graduating in 2001 with a degree in Industrial, Residential, and Special Facilities Engineering. He began his military service in Moscow as a lieutenant and was promoted ahead of schedule to the rank of captain by 2005, at which point he left the armed forces.

After the army, he started as a construction site foreman and eventually rose to lead major national-level construction projects. Under his supervision, dozens of major facilities across Russia were built, renovated, or restored, including:


• the restoration of the Great Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky,

• 
the restoration of the Bolshoi Drama Theater,

• 
the revival of the New Jerusalem Monastery in Istra,
– and construction or renovation of shopping centers such as 'Oceania' and 'Crocus City Hall'.

While working, Sergey continued his education. In 2003, he enrolled at the Faculty of Public and Municipal Administration at Lomonosov Moscow State University, graduating in 2006. In 2008, he began postgraduate studies at the All-Russian Correspondence Financial and Economic Institute, defending his dissertation in 2010 on “Mechanisms for Managing the Potential of Industrial Enterprises,” and earning his Ph.D. in Economics.

Persecution

In 2019, Sergey entered into conflict with the Governor of Moscow Region, Andrey Vorobyov, due to his refusal to participate in corrupt schemes related to the construction of the 'Solopovo' landfill. This conflict triggered threats against him, prompting Sergey to urgently leave Russia.

He was placed on the federal and then international wanted list. His lawyer was only notified of his arrest in absentia after the fact. Sergey moved to Spain, where he lived for about 18 months before being arrested in Alicante under an INTERPOL red notice and placed in a detention center. However, the Spanish judiciary found the evidence submitted by Russian authorities to be unconvincing, as it was based solely on an anonymous phone call.

Eventually, Sergey succeeded in having INTERPOL lift the red notice, and he was later granted political asylum in France.

In 2021, he gave a revealing interview exposing large-scale corruption in Russia’s Ministry of Defense, implicating Deputy Minister Timur Ivanov and Minister Sergey Shoigu. Following this, new arrest requests were sent to INTERPOL, but they were denied. In April 2024, purges began in the Russian Defense Ministry, confirming Sergey's earlier allegations.

Human Rights Activities

Sergey founded the international human rights association “Asylum Research & Global Assistance” (ARGA), which supports those subjected to unlawful prosecution, human rights violations, and violations of property rights. The association collaborates with INTERPOL, The United Nations, ECHR, ICC, ICJ, and others.

Sergey Khrabrykh is a Russian entrepreneur and former contractor for the Russian Ministry of Defense. After emigrating to France, he became one of the key whistleblowers in the 2023 investigative documentary “Prigozhin, Putin’s Butcher” (Prigojine, le boucher de Poutine), broadcast by the French program Complément d’enquête on France 2. In the investigation, Khrabrykh disclosed information about alleged corruption schemes in the Russian military procurement system involving the company Glavnaya Linia, which supplied food to the armed forces. According to his testimony, contracts were awarded without competitive bidding, included advance payments, and involved the delivery of low-quality or expired food products. He also claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhin was deliberately enriched with public funds during the war launched by President Vladimir Putin against Ukraine.

In 2023, he participated in the investigation of assets belonging to Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, totaling 2 trillion rubles. This was documented in a film by France 2, which also featured former French President François Hollande. In Bloomberg and The New York Times, Sergey Khrabrykh spoke out about Putin’s war against Ukraine, revealed previously unknown information about the Wagner Group, and exposed corruption within the Russian Ministry of Defense.

In 2024, he publicly criticized a legislative proposal by the State Duma of the Russian Federation that would allow for the criminal prosecution of Russian citizens living abroad who engage in what the authorities define as “anti-Russian activity.” In a statement made in the Russian-speaking media space, Khrabrykh expressed deep concern that such measures represent a serious violation of fundamental human rights, including freedom of opinion and expression, which are protected by international instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. He warned that the legislation could create an atmosphere of fear and repression, even beyond Russia’s borders. Khrabrykh also drew parallels to the methods used during the Stalinist era in the Soviet Union, suggesting that the initiative reflects an intention to suppress dissent and tighten state control over its citizens abroad.

He also led legal support for minority shareholders of the Lebedinsky GOK iron ore plant in their case against Metalloinvest. On June 4, 2024, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights accepted a petition from ARGA.

For the 91st INTERPOL General Assembly, Sergey, along with the Sorbonne Scientific Council, authored a report advocating for limiting Russia’s role within INTERPOL.

On Sergey's initiative, the city of Bayonne (France) hosts the annual Art Brave Festival of Slavic Culture, featuring young artists, sculptors, and craftsmen—many of whom are political refugees.