BOGOTÁ — Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella confirmed on Wednesday that Russian citizen Sergei Vagin was captured in Bogotá in an operation he said was completed in under 24 hours.

The president said the arrest was coordinated between the National Police and DIPOL, the police intelligence directorate, and that Vagin will now face “administrative expulsion” from the country for “endangering national security.”

Allegations

De La Espriella said intelligence reports link Vagin to espionage activity, the financing of vandalism during Colombia’s 2021 national strike, and contacts with the ELN guerrilla group.

Colombian authorities have not publicly released detailed evidence backing the espionage and ELN claims, and multiple outlets, including El Heraldo, note the allegations were never formally pursued by prosecutors despite appearing in intelligence files years earlier.

Separately, Vagin faces legal proceedings for aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime, unauthorized transfer of assets, and unauthorized access to computer systems, tied to a fraud scheme involving betting platforms.

Colombian outlets Semana and Minuto30 report the amount moved was approximately 1.6 billion Colombian pesos — roughly US$370,000 to US$400,000 at current exchange rates.t

This is not Vagin’s first run-in with Colombian authorities. He was previously detained in Bogotá in 2022 in connection with the same betting-platform fraud case and was held at La Modelo prison.

According to Infobae, he was released in August 2025 after statutory legal time limits on his detention expired, at which point an administrative deportation order was issued against him — the same order authorities are now moving to enforce.

The government has not disclosed a timeline for Vagin’s expulsion or the country to which he will be sent. De La Espriella framed the action as a matter of sovereignty, posting: “¡La soberanía de Colombia se respeta!” — signaling the administration’s broader posture against alleged foreign interference and criminal networks operating in the country.