TEL AVIV, November 11. /TASS/. Russia’s embassy in Israel has voiced regret over Tel Aviv’s decision to extradite to the United States Russian citizen Alexei Burkov, who has been jailed in Israel since 2015, the diplomatic mission wrote on its Facebook page on Monday.
"We regret the Israeli authorities’ decision. This step is beneath criticism either in legal, humanitarian or political terms and leads to violating the Russian citizen’s rights and is also in violation of Israel’s international commitments," the document said.
The embassy noted that the move not only does not favor progressive development of Russian-Israeli ties but also raises doubts over Israel’s ability to ensure security and rights of Russian citizens visiting the country.
Russian national Alexei Burkov was detained during a passport check at Washington’s request while trying to leave Israel on December 13, 2015. His case was considered by Israel’s district court behind closed doors.
The American authorities insist on his extradition because they allegedly have evidence that Burkov was complicit in cybercrimes. Russia earlier filed a request to Israel on Burkov’s extradition.
On October 30, Israeli Justice Minister Amir Ohana signed an order on extraditing Burkov to the US. On November 3, the Russian’s attorneys lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court of Israel against the justice minister’s decision, asking it to ban the extradition. The judge ruled to suspend the extradition procedure to the US until a decision was made on this request.
The Supreme Court of Israel on Sunday rejected Burkov’s appeal. His lawyer told TASS that the decision was final and nothing would prevent his extradition to the US.