Russian-Israeli academic Artyom Pirochonko, disappeared by Shin Bet
השב”כ נעלם מאיש אקדמיה רוסי-ישראלי
Russian-Israeli historian, Artyom Kirpichonok, entered Israel on August 2nd for an academic conference. He’d flown there from the Armenian capital, Yerevan. He hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Earlier today, Israeli media first reported that he’d disappeared into the Shin Bet’s underground cells. His lawyer hasn’t been permitted to visit him for three weeks.
Such kidnappings aren’t a one-off occurrence. The Shin Bet has often arrested Israelis in secret, held them incommunicado for weeks, then tried and imprisoned them (also in secret). Anat Kamm, Marcus Klingberg, Tomer Eiges, Ben Zygier are only a few of them .
According to recent Russian media reports, Kirpichonok was brutally interrograted there for 18-24 hours a day. As a result, he signed unspecified statements under duress. This account describes his mistreatment:
Three to four Shabak agents are taking turns to interrogate him violently for eighteen-to-twenty-four-hour blocs. He is not permitted to sleep (the lights are on all the time) and is kept handcuffed on an iron stool that is welded to the floor. Kirpichenok has been told that he has been abandoned and forgotten by his friends and that he faces life imprisonment…
The problem is, it appears, that Kirpichenok is deeply critical of Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians. Shabak has been through his social media and is seeking to get a ‘confession’ from him during the violent interrogations.
Until today, no one in Israel knew (except a few journalists) about this incident. Reporting on it was forbidden by the military censor. The State broadcaster, Kan, broke the story earlier today and portions of the case have been reported. Though the reason for the arrest is still under censorship.
כמעט כמעט חודש ממתין @Haaretz להחלטה של ביהמ”ש השלום באשקלון על פרשה האסורה בפרסום.
השופטים גוררים רגליים, מעבירים את התיק מאחד לשני, חקירת האירוע כבר הסתיימה אבל בא השב”כ – והשופטים מצדיעים.
המשך הסתרת הפרשה פוגעת בישראל ומאפשרת להסתיר מאזרחיה את מה שכל העולם יודע.— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) August 30, 2026
A Haaretz reporter tweeted that the outlet had filed a petition to remove military censorship. But the judges dragged their heels, treating the case as a hot potato and each judge declined to take the case and passed it to another. A month went by and just when the court appeared that it might rule, the Shin Bet came along and demanded it continue the censorship directive. This is how things work in a State of Fear.
Why would the Shin Bet arrest him? Three main possibilities:
- Kirpichonok immigrated from the Soviet Union in 1991. He served in the IDF and earned a PhD degree in Middle East history from the Hebrew University. He became a leftist activist and member of Hadash, a left-wing Jewish-Palestinian party. Later, he returned to Russia. Israel’s state broadcaster describes him as “anti-Zionist.” In 2018, he made two trips to Iran
The Knesset passed a law recently criminalizing support for BDS. Other anti-Zionist views were prohibited.
Also, Israelis are prohibited from having contact with “enemies of the state.” Since Shin Bet boss, David Zini, is a Judeo-Nazi, he might have sought to make an example of Kirpichonok by charging him as having contact with Iran. Further, the Shin Bet may have hoped he would expose any contacts he had or intelligence he might provide.
Given his anti-Zionist views, Zini could certainly have sought to make an example of him. Only in police states do they arrest professors for holding views the ruling elite considers anathema. Apparently, Israel has become such a state.
Russia has appealed to the UN asserting the arrest is political in nature:
…The [Russian human rights] council said Kirpichonok had been detained by the Shin Bet and noted that arrests by the agency are “usually connected to suspicions of crimes against state security. This fact gives reason to believe that the detention stems from his political views,” the appeal said. “Such a step constitutes a gross violation of the right to freedom of expression,” citing Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
- Eight years ago, Kirpichonok made two visits to Iran. Given Israel’s war of aggression, the Shin Bet may accuse him of further contacts with an enemy state. Though accusations based on visits nearly a decade ago seems like a very thin reed on which to hang a prosecution.
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Given Israel’s ongoing war on Iran, it may be using Kirpichonok as a hostage, expressing its displeasure at Russian support for Iran. The former has provided substantial military weaponry for Iran in its retaliatory attacks against the US and Israel:
Russia [is] Iran’s top military supplier of armored vehicles, combat aircraft, submarines, and air-defense systems. Throughout Operation Epic Fury, Moscow has continued to produce and deliver fighter jets for the Iranian air force as well as train its pilots. Russia has delivered advanced fiber-optic drone components to Iran — technology that could inflict significant casualties on the US and our partners that Tehran has also passed on to its Middle Eastern proxies. In addition, Moscow has committed to supply Tehran with hundreds of man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) and thousands of missiles.
Russia has [provided] expanded intelligence sharing as well as satellite imagery to aid Tehran’s targeting of US forces…Russian orbital surveillance assets captured images of the UK-US base on Diego Garcia, NATO’s Incirlik base in Turkey, Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and oil and natural gas fields in Saudi Arabia — all locations subsequently attacked by Iran. Russian intelligence services also provided Iran with a list of 55 critical energy infrastructure targets in Israel.
If this is the reason for the Shabak kidnapping, it would be a pathetic attempt to make Kirpichonok “only a pawn in their game.”
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Good on Russia for applying pressure, after all such a thing could never happen in a real democracy like Russia
@ ock: Why single out Russia and pretend it and Israel are the only countries that do this, as bad as this may be? ICE routinely kidnaps and disappears immigrants, even citizens. So-called democracies can be just as evil in this regard as authoritarian countries.
Really quite unbelievable that they are sinking to such lows. Israel is growing increasingly desperate. I thank you for your important journalistic work.