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Moscow contacts Thailand over extradition to US of Russian national

A Russian citizen was detained in Thailand at the U.S. request on charges of stealing money from bank accounts of Americans
 Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office Vyacheslav Prokofiev/TASS
Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office
© Vyacheslav Prokofiev/TASS

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office have contacted the Thai authorities in order to prevent unjustified extradition to the United States of a Russian national detained in Thailand, the spokesman for the Prosecutor General’s Office, Aleksander Kurennoi said on Thursday.

"Following an order of Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, the Prosecutor General’s Office alongside the Interior Ministry are in contact with Thailand’s competent bodies with the aim to protect the rights and freedoms of a Russian citizen which were endorsed by universally recognized international norms and to prevent his unjustified extradition to the U.S.," Kurennoi said.

Earlier reports said that a Russian citizen, Dmitry Ukrainsky had been detained in Thailand at the U.S. request on charges of stealing money from bank accounts of Americans.

"Ukrainsky flatly denies his involvement in the activities incriminated to him by the U.S. side," Kurennoi said.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day Thailand’s newspaper the Nation reported that the Thai police had arrested Dmitry Ukrainsky, 44, and citizen of Uzbekistan Olga Komova, 25, who were suspected of stealing $28.5 million from bank accounts of citizens of several countries. Tourist Police Commander Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpal said that the Russian man was arrested in Pattaya where he was running several firms renting yachts to tourists. The Uzbekistani woman was arrested at a hotel on Koh Chang where she was working, the publication says.

Surachet said the two suspects were involved in sending malware to emails of their victims and the malware sent back usernames and passwords of online bank accounts in the United States, Australia, Japan, Britain, Italy and Germany. The FBI has traced the transactions and found that they were wired to Thailand, so the FBI sought help from the Immigration Bureau to arrest the two suspects, according to the newspaper.