MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Moscow is pressing Thai authorities to block a Russian national’s extradition to the US at the request of the FBI, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday.

According to the diplomat, the US "makes no secret that it will continue the practice of extrajudicial and illegal abductions of other countries’ nationals from third countries," he said, also referring to a recent incident "with rather famous individuals from Venezuela".

"So such an attitude by American law enforcement is not just a Russian problem," he said.

"Thailand knows that such action is categorically inadmissible. We expect to see a very serious approach to our appeals from the relevant agencies in Bangkok," the diplomat said.

Thailand’s newspaper, The Nation previously reported that the Thai police had arrested a Russian national Dmitry Ukrainsky, 44, and an Uzbekistani citizen, Olga Komova, 25, who were suspected of stealing $28.5 million from individual bank accounts in several countries. Thai Tourist Police Commander Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpal said that the Russian national was arrested in Pattaya where he was running several firms that rented yachts to tourists.

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

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova said on July 21 that Moscow had filed a note of protest with the Thai foreign ministry, stating that the extradition of a Russian citizen to the United States was unacceptable. Diplomats were taking all reasonable steps to secure his release or transfer to the Russian authorities, she said.