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Moscow gets no response from Bangkok to note over Russian citizens arrest in Thailand

The Russian Foreign Ministry has not received a response to its official note, stating that extradition of Russian citizen Ukrainsky to the US is inadmissible
Russian Foreign Ministry Gennadiy Khamelyanin/TASS
Russian Foreign Ministry
© Gennadiy Khamelyanin/TASS

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry has not received a response from Bangkok yet to its official note, stating that extradition of Russian citizen Dmitry Ukrainsky (who was arrested in Thailand at the FBI request) to the United States is inadmissible, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov told TASS on Friday.

"No we haven’t received an official response to our note yet," he said, answering a corresponding question.

Thailand’s newspaper The Nation reported previously 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. Thai 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.

The Russian embassy to Thailand confirmed on Thursday that Ukrainsky was detained. "We have visited him at the detention facility," the embassy said. "He flatly denies his guilt. We are now expecting them to give us the full documentation on the Russian citizen’s case. We have sent the corresponding request to the Thai side".

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday Moscow filed a note of protest with the Thai foreign ministry stating that the extradition of a Russian citizen to the United States is unacceptable. Diplomats would not spare an effort to secure his release or handover to the Russian side.