DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — A Ukrainian man arrested in Thailand and extradited to Indonesia after seven months on the run was convicted Thursday of producing illegal drugs on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali and sentenced to life in prison.
Roman Nazarenko, 40, became a suspect after police raided a villa in Bali in May 2024 and found a lab in the basement to grow marijuana and produce a precursor of the synthetic drug ecstasy. As a fugitive listed by Interpol, he was arrested in December at Bangkok’s international airport while he tried to flee to Dubai.
Nazarenko, who argued during the trial that he was tricked into joining the drug ring but who prosecutors said was one of the masterminds, sat silently as a panel of three judges at Denpasar District Court handed down the verdict Thursday.
“There is no reason to forgive or justify the defendant, he deserves to be punished commensurate with what he has done,” presiding Judge Eni Martiningrum said. “His crime could damage the mental state of the young generation.”
A Russian man identified by prosecutors as the overall mastermind of the drug ring, Oleg Tkachuck, remains at large.
The same court in January sentenced two Ukrainian brothers, Mykyta Volovod and Ivan Volovod, and a Russian man, Konstantin Krutz, to 20 years in prison each. They had been arrested during the raid on the villa. The Volovod brothers were accused of being drugmakers and Krutz was accused of selling the drugs.
The Volovod brothers admitted during their trial that Tkachuck had paid them $30,000 in Sep. 2023 to install equipment at the villa to produce hydroponic marijuana and mephedrone, which is used to make ecstasy pills.
Tkachuck also paid them $3,000 for 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of dried marijuana and $10,000 for 1 kilogram (2 pounds) of mephedrone that they had produced for sale to users via couriers and ride-hailing services. All transactions were made through the Telegram messaging app and payment was made using cryptocurrency.
Prosecutors said that Nazarenko had recruited the others for Tkachuck, provided equipment, brought marijuana seeds from abroad and oversaw operations of the drug lab.
Nazarenko expressed his remorse during his trial, and argued that he had been tricked by Tkachuck into providing the necessary equipment, and that he had no idea how the lab worked.
Bali has long been popular with Russians and Ukrainians, but since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 it has become a magnet for thousands of people from those two countries who are seeking to escape the horrors of war. Visitors from Russia especially have surged.
Despite their home countries being at war, Russians and Ukrainians have collaborated in crime rings on Indonesia’s most famous holiday island, said Marthinus Hukom, the head of Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency.
“This is a very unique phenomenon,” Hukom said, “Two countries that are at war, but here in Bali, their citizens are partners in crime, engaging in illicit drug trafficking.”
Government data shows that the number of Russian tourists visiting the Southeast Asian idyll in 2022 was 57,860. The figure rose significantly each year, reaching 180,215 by the end of 2024.
Bali Police Chief Daniel Adityajaya said the number of Russians accused of committing crimes in Bali in 2023 was 28, a nearly five-fold increase over 2022, including offenses such as kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking and disrespecting Balinese culture.
