MOSCOW, November 15. /TASS/. A Russian senior diplomat said on Tuesday he hopes the United States’ new administration will put an end to the illegal practice of arresting Russian nationals in third countries at the United States’ request.
"The problem of illegal practices of arresting Russian nationals in third countries at the United States’ request with their subsequent extradition to the United States has grown in scale," Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian foreign ministry’s envoy for human rights, democracy and the supremacy of law, told a news conference. "It is an absolutely inadmissible practice."
"There is a range of such cases we keep an eye on," he said. "We continue to work on each one of them. All know the names of Bout, Yaroshenko, Seleznyov, and others. It is important that this problem is attracting keep attention from our human rights organizations."
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The Russian diplomat called on the United States "to stop the illegal practices of hunting [Russians] worldwide." "There are bilateral channels of communication to solve these problems and it is necessary to use these channels," he noted. "We are open for an open, honest, professional conversation on these matters but it should be born in mind that the assumption of innocence is still in place and no one has granted the U.S. authorities any right to violate legal rights and interests of Russian citizens. We have been repeatedly saying that to Washington."
"It is important to continue pressure on Washington to stop this practice in respect of those who are kept in detention centers or in American prisons at far-fetched pretexts," Dolgov stressed. "It is a serious topic, a serious irritant in our relations with the United States the Obama administration leaves to its successor."
"We seriously hope that this problem will be resolved and Washington finally takes steps to remove this irritant in conformity with international law by the end of Obama’s presidential term," the Russian diplomat said. "Each remaining day will be used to continue this work with the incumbent U.S. administration. We hope the Trump administration derives the right conclusions and puts an end to this illegal practice and we hope the rights of our citizens will be observed by the American authorities," he said.
Russia, in his words, will not tolerate violations of its citizens’ rights and will use diplomatic and legal tools to put an end to these practices.