MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. Russia expects the Lithuanian authorities will sustain its request for the extradition of a suspect in extortion-related crimes, Andrey Nekrasov, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"We hope that the Lithuanian authorities will take into account our request and our legal reasons and meet our request for Nekrasov’s extradition, thereby taking a purely legal decision, and not a politicized one," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

At the same time the ministry voiced regret over the earlier decision by the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, where Nekrasov had been detained, not to extradite him to Russia, but to return him to Lithuania, from where he had arrived.

"We reacted with disappointment to the decision by the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus to hand over to Vilnius Russian citizen Andrey Nekrasov, recently arrested under an international warrant issued by Interpol on charges of extortion," the Foreign Ministry said. "That was done in defiance of Russia’s request for the man’s extradition to the country whose citizenship he has."

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that "timeserving" was the sole appropriate description for such actions by Cyprus authorities.

"They harm the rights and legal interests of Russia and by no means match the level of relations between the two states and the legal rules, including the bilateral treaty on legal assistance in civil and criminal cases," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.