Mikhail Verbitsky, a Harvard trained mathematician who studies higher dimensional geometry at Brazil's Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, was detained at Yerevan's airport on June 11 and later released, but cannot leave while Armenian prosecutors weigh a Russian…
Russian mathematician Mikhail Verbitsky flew to Armenia last Thursday to attend his daughter's high school graduation. He never made it to the ceremony.
Armenian authorities detained Verbitsky at Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport on June 11, 2026, on a Russian extradition request. By mid-morning on June 15, he had been released from detention but barred from leaving Armenia, leaving a Harvard-trained mathematician with a return ticket to Israel effectively trapped in the country where he landed for a family milestone. The terrorism charge that underlies the request has been described by Scientific American as retaliation for his public criticism of Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Verbitsky, 56, is a specialist in complex geometry, the branch of mathematics that studies higher-dimensional shapes, and has been on the faculty of Brazil's Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro since 2017. He left Russia in 2015. He holds a PhD from Harvard.
The case that followed him to Yerevan dates to January 2025, when Russian authorities placed him on a federal wanted list. On February 8, 2025, a Russian court convicted him in absentia under Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code, the public-justification-of-terrorism provision, according to his own curriculum vitae. The prosecution stems from his comments questioning the official Russian investigation into the 2022 Crocus City Hall terrorist attack, in which he was sharply critical of how suspects were treated, and from his broader antiwar speech.
His daughter Sima Verbitsky said on Facebook that he had flown to Armenia for her high school graduation, the only public attribution of the trip's purpose. Speaking to RFE/RL's Armenian Service (Azatutyun), Verbitsky said he has a return ticket to Israel but is now unable to use it. His Armenian lawyer, Vache Simonyan, told the same outlet that Armenian prosecutors have not yet received a formal extradition request from Russia, and the General Prosecutor's Office has not disclosed what documents it has received.
The math community's response has been institutional, not just sympathetic. The French Mathematical Society (SMF) issued an official statement on June 14 and 15 calling on Armenian authorities to refuse extradition and release him, and describing the underlying charge as "frequently used as a délit d'opinion," an opinion offense. At the time of the SMF statement, Verbitsky's family had not yet confirmed earlier reports of his release. Petitions signed by leading mathematicians circulated over the weekend.
The response carries historical weight. In 2022, the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), the field's flagship meeting, was relocated out of Saint Petersburg over the invasion of Ukraine. The same professional bodies that walked out of Russia four years ago are now publicly backing one of their own.
What happens next sits with Armenian prosecutors. Simonyan, the lawyer, said the General Prosecutor's Office has not yet said whether it will entertain a Russian request, and has not commented publicly on what documents, if any, it has received. Verbitsky's release from detention is "temporary" in the literal sense: the moment a formal request lands and a court approves it, he could be re-detained. The story is developing, and the next clear update will come from Yerevan, not Moscow.