LARNACA, October 24. /TASS/. Washington has sent a request to the Cypriot authorities for the extradition of Russian national Arthur Petrov, who was arrested in August based on a US request, Judge Michalis Michael said at a Larnaca District Court hearing on Tuesday.

A Cypriot prosecutorial official asked the judge for a 15-day recess to allow time for ensuring that the Cypriot Ministry of Justice receives the original US extradition request for assessing its compliance with Cypriot requirements and then deciding whether the extradition process merits continuation. Petrov’s lawyer, however, asked the judge to accelerate the proceedings. As a result, the next court hearing was scheduled for October 30.

Petrov, 33, who also holds a German passport, was arrested in Cyprus on August 26 on a US Department of Justice (DOJ) request based on charges of illegally exporting US-made microelectronics to Russia. The DOJ alleges that Petrov "participated in an international illicit procurement network based in Russia, using shell companies to smuggle shipments from US distributors of microelectronics with military applications through intermediary countries in order to conceal the ultimate destination of these sensitive materials: Russia." "The transactions and shipments were in contravention of US export controls relating to Russia," the DOJ added.

Petrov stated earlier that he believed his case to be politically motivated. He said that the US was seeking to persecute him simply for being "a businessman from Russia."