A Russian investigator worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to rescue child sexual abuse victims. Now he’s charged with treason.
On February 5, 2025, reports emerged that Russia had arrested Ivan Semenikhin, an operative with the Interior Ministry’s criminal investigations department, and charged him with treason. The details of the case haven’t been made public; treason prosecutions in Russia are classified and heard behind closed doors.
Semenikhin had previously worked with foreign law enforcement, including U.S. and Interpol officers, on cases involving crimes against children, BBC News Russian recently reported. In 2020, he took part in the search for a seven-year-old boy abducted from the Vladimir region.
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According to BBC News Russian, Greg Squire, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who investigates child exploitation on dark web forums, located images of the missing boy online and alerted Semenikhin. With assistance from foreign counterparts, Semenikhin was able to apprehend the kidnapper, and the child was returned home alive. It was one of the rare instances in recent years when Russian police publicly acknowledged that help from Interpol had contributed to solving a case, BBC News Russian noted.
In 2024, Semenikhin and Squire identified another Russian man who had subjected his own son and the boy’s friends to sexual abuse. Squire told BBC News Russian that the two men had not only worked together but had become friends. In February 2025, Semenikhin stopped responding to his messages.
It remains unclear whether the treason charges are connected to his cooperation with foreign investigators. Ivan Pavlov, a lawyer who specializes in treason cases, suggested that the Russian authorities may have retroactively interpreted those contacts as espionage or the disclosure of state secrets. This pattern has been seen previously in cases involving scientists, he noted. “What used to be considered normal communication is now being reassessed,” Pavlov said.
Squire said he was shocked by the charges. “He’s my friend. I don’t have any contacts left in Russia. Everything’s gone silent,” he told BBC News Russian. “It’s not just that we’re missing our friend. Children in your country, in Russia, need heroes like him — and now they don’t have one.”
