Drachev Anton Evgenievich

Drachev Anton Evgenievich

Biography

2025: Arrest in Azerbaijan

On July 1, 2025, Azerbaijani security forces detained a group of Russians suspected of transiting drugs from Iran, trafficking in illegal substances and cybercrimes. Among those arrested was Anton Drachev, co-founder of the online home services service Airo.

According to the Azerbaijani agency Report, the harsh detention of Russians took place in Baku. A video of the operation was released on the Internet: bruises, bruises and traces of beatings are visible on the faces of some of those arrested. Gazeta.Ru notes that eight people were detained - in addition to Drachev, these are several more IT specialists, a psychologist, a tourist and a student of an architectural university from St. Petersburg.

According to the Vedomosti newspaper, Drachev previously headed the IT direction at the Red Star Asset Management hedge fund. Later he became a director of his own startup Airo, funds in which were invested by MTS and T-Investments funds (T-Bank JSC). It is reported that Drachev often visited Baku, since his girlfriend lives there.

Among those arrested was also IT specialist Dmitry Bezugly, a graduate of the St. Petersburg University ITMO, who previously worked for VK and Yandex. In addition, Sergei Sofronov from Cherepovets, who worked at the Small Computer Academy, as well as software developer Valery Dulov, who worked at Gazpromneft, were detained. The situation with the detention of Russians in Baku was commented on by a member of the Human Rights Council (HRC) Eva Merkacheva.

They (released videos), firstly, talk about the use of physical force, and for sure in this case there was no need to do this. In recent years, Azerbaijan has always assured that it complies with international norms, conventions, and on the example of the detention of our citizens, we see that this, to put it mildly, is not quite so, "Merkacheva said.[1]

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