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Foreign Ministry slams Prague’s decision to extradite Russian citizen to US

On March 30, the Czech Justice Ministry confirmed that Russian citizen Yevgeny Nikulin had been extradited to the US

Russian embassy in Prague AP Photo/Petr David Josek

Russian embassy in Prague

© AP Photo/Petr David Josek

MOSCOW, April 2. /TASS/. Moscow is outraged by Prague’s decision to extradite Russian citizen Yevgeny Nikulin to the US, as this step undermines the foundations of cooperation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

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Czech authorities extradite arrested Russian citizen to US — media

"We are outraged at the Czech Republic’s extradition of Russian citizen Nikulin - who was apprehended at Washington’s request and held in custody since October 2016 - to the United States," the statement reads. "We are disappointed that instead of taking legal norms into account, the Czech Republic has made a decision seeking to once again show loyalty to its ally, which has been declared an absolute priority recently," the Russian Foreign Ministry added. "We consider the decision made by Prague to be a deliberate and politically motivated step aimed at undermining the constructive foundations of bilateral cooperation," the statement says.

"We will take all the necessary measures in order to ensure the rights and interests of the Russian citizen," the Foreign Ministry stressed.

The ministry pointed out that "the request to hand Nikulin over to Moscow, filed by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, was ignored, as well as our calls for taking into account the fact that given the anti-Russian hysteria in the United States, our citizen cannot be given a fair trial in that country." According to the ministry, all of this points to the violation of legal norms in Nikulin’s case.

Nikulin's case

Nikulin was detained in Prague on October 5, 2016, at the request of a Californian court on suspicion of hacker attacks against targets in the United States.

In November 2016, Russia asked the Czech Justice Ministry for Nikulin’s extradition as he was accused of stealing $3,450 through the Internet in 2009. In November 2017, the Supreme Court in Prague turned down an appeal Nikulin’s lawyers had filed against the Prague City Court’s decision regarding his possible extradition to the United States.

On Friday, the Czech Justice Ministry confirmed that Nikulin had been extradited to the United States.

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