A Ukrainian man has been sentenced to life in prison in Indonesia for running a clandestine drug laboratory on the resort island of Bali. Roman Nazarenko, 40, was convicted on Thursday by a panel of judges at Denpasar District Court for producing illegal drugs, including marijuana and a precursor to the synthetic drug ecstasy.
Nazarenko was arrested in Thailand in December 2024 after seven months on the run and extradited to Indonesia. He had been identified as a suspect following a police raid on a villa in Bali in May 2024, where officers discovered a basement lab used to grow hydroponic marijuana and produce mephedrone, a key ingredient in ecstasy pills. Interpol had listed him as a fugitive.
During the trial, prosecutors described Nazarenko as one of the masterminds of the operation, alleging he recruited others, provided equipment, imported marijuana seeds, and oversaw the lab. He argued in his defence that he was tricked into joining the drug ring by the alleged overall mastermind, a Russian man named Oleg Tkachuck, who remains at large. Presiding Judge Eni Martiningrum stated, “There is no reason to forgive or justify the defendant; he deserves to be punished commensurate with what he has done. His crime could damage the mental state of the young generation.”
In a separate case in January, the same court sentenced two Ukrainian brothers, Mykyta Volovod and Ivan Volovod, and a Russian man, Konstantin Krutz, to 20 years in prison each. The brothers admitted they were paid $30,000 to install equipment and produce drugs, with transactions conducted via Telegram and payments in cryptocurrency.
The case highlights a trend of collaboration between Russians and Ukrainians in crime rings on Bali, despite the war between their home countries. Marthinus Hukom, head of Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency, described it as “a very unique phenomenon.” Bali has seen a surge in Russian tourists since the invasion of Ukraine, with numbers rising from 57,860 in 2022 to 180,215 in 2024, alongside an increase in crime involving Russian nationals.
