MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. Moscow expects Athens to extradite Russian national Alexander Vinnik who has been in a Greek prison since July 2017 to his country, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters at a press briefing on Thursday.
"We keep a close eye on the situation involving Russian citizen Vinnik," she said, recalling that Vinnik had been apprehended on a warrant issued by the US Department of Justice.
"He has been on a hunger strike since late November 2018, which is, naturally, a cause for profound concern. Russian diplomatic representatives in Greece insist on ensuring the personal safety of the detained Russian citizen and respecting his legitimate rights. During our contacts with the Greek side at all levels we stress that we expect the Greek authorities to extradite the Russian national to his country of origin, that is, Russia," she stressed.
Vinnik was detained in Greece on July 25, 2017, at the request of the US, where he is accused of laundering four to nine billion dollars through the now defunct BTC-e cryptocurrency trading platform. He has been in a Greek prison since then. Greece's Supreme Court ruled in 2017 to extradite Vinnik to the United States but later on revised its decision and first ruled to extradite him to Russia at the request of the Russian prosecutor’s office and then to France on a European arrest warrant issued by Paris.