In his first day of freedom after being in prison for nine months under suspicions of espionage in Albania, Ukrainian citizen Feder Alpatov recounted his experience in the country.

“I just want to leave but I cannot do that because my passport has been blocked. I did not have a good time in jail, as I am no criminal. I came here because I am passionate about historical sites, for example, former communist buildings. Elsewhere in the world, you can freely visit and photograph abandoned buildings but not in Albania,” said Alpatov.

His passport will be blocked until investigations on the case are fully closed. Even the other two Russian citizens arrested and set free alongside Alpatov, namely Svetlana Timofeeva and Mikhail Zorin will not be able to leave Albania.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Elbasan has not yet received the expertise on the photographs seized from the three citizens at the moment of their arrest in Gramshi’s ammunition plant in August 2022, where they also attacked two guards with paralyzing spray.