As it became known to Kommersant, 43 refusals to extradite after the start of a special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine were received by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office from their colleagues in Europe. Extraditions did not take place even in those cases when the fugitives could only be put on a plane. At the same time, if earlier only Great Britain was considered the most reliable refuge for Russians, now more than a dozen countries can be classified as such. They believe that even those convicted of murder and persons involved in prostitution of minors are not subject to extradition.
Since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, the interaction of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office with most European countries on the extradition of accused and even convicted Russians has actually come to naught. The press service of the supervisory agency, in response to a request from Kommersant, noted that if in the first two months of 2022 the supervision received only four refusals to extradite the requested persons, and all of them were related to objective reasons, then in March-May of this year already 43 refusals, which is three times more than in the same period last year. At the same time, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation notes that many states, including Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, did not hide the political motivation of their decisions, although in most cases “contradiction” of extradition to the legal principles of this country or uncertainty about the observance of the rights of the requested persons. It should be noted that, in accordance with international legal treaties, the Prosecutor General’s Office itself acts as a guarantor of the observance of such rights, which, if necessary, provides access to the pre-trial detention center to the extradited person for diplomats from the country of issue.
“Unfortunately, after the start of a special military operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass from the crimes of the Ukrainian regime, manifestations of Russophobia in a number of Western countries, primarily in the states of the European Union, have reached such an outrageous level that the law enforcement agencies of these countries are ready to refuse cooperation with Russia in favor of international crime,” the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office told Kommersant.
In particular, only Germany during this time refused to extradite 13 accused of committing crimes of a general criminal nature.
For example, among the refuseniks was 42-year-old Mikhail Golikov, who was convicted in 2016 by the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court for murder and robbery (Articles 105 and 162 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) to 20 years in prison, and also prosecuted for extortion and theft ( articles 163 and 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). After replacing the remainder of the sentence with forced labor last year, the convict Golikov fled abroad. At the same time, back in December 2021, the Düsseldorf District Court decided to extradite the criminal to his homeland. However, a month after the start of the JWO, the German Foreign Ministry recognized extradition as impossible.
Similarly, the authorities of this country refused to extradite 54-year-old Adnan Nagaev to enforce the sentence of the Surgut City Court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Yugra dated February 19, 2020. In the homeland of a Russian sentenced to 5.5 years for attempted drug trafficking (Articles 30 and 228.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), a Russian is called nothing more than a drug lord. On the sale of heroin in his region, he came across repeatedly and is well known to law enforcement agencies.
In April 2022, the competent authorities of Austria explained the refusal to extradite the former director of the Saransk modeling agency “Lel” Svetlana Titova with uncertainty about the reliability of guarantees in Russia’s observance of the rights of the requested person. At home, a woman is charged with organizing prostitution, as well as involving and forcing minors to do so (Articles 241 and 240 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
For the same reasons, Austria refused to extradite the former co-owner of the Don factories “Aktis” and “Escort” Vladimir Baziyan, who is accused in Russia of deliberate bankruptcy (Article 196 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) of the companies he leads, as well as embezzlement (part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ) RUB 300 million loan funds from the Czech Export Bank.
Italy also recognized as political the fraud on an especially large scale, accused by Russian law enforcement officers of the founder of the Polish Theater in Moscow, citizen of Ukraine Yevgeny Lavrenchuk.
The fate of another fugitive – the former general director of the energy sales holding JSC “Mezhregionsoyuzenergo” Yuri Shulgin, most likely, was predetermined long before the start of the NWO in Ukraine. On March 8, 2022, the United Kingdom refused to extradite a person accused of creating a criminal community, leading it and embezzling by fraud (Articles 210 and 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) of at least 10 billion rubles. Mr. Shulgin, in fact, can be considered a formality. Although the senior district judge of England and Wales, who made this decision, insisted that he accepted the refusal to extradite solely due to the fact that “in the event of extradition, Mr. Shulgin Yu.V. will be subjected to treatment that violates his rights under Art. 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of November 4, 1950”.
But the Prague City Court, in its decision of March 29, 2022, was extremely frank. In refusing to extradite a certain Sergeev, accused of the theft committed by an organized group on an especially large scale, the court explained this as “a change in circumstances after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
The department of Igor Krasnov notes that such decisions are made “for the sake of political conjuncture and lead to the avoidance of responsibility of those who committed crimes, including murderers, rapists and thieves.” Also, the Prosecutor General’s Office draws attention to the fact that a similar situation is observed in the provision of legal assistance in criminal cases and law enforcement assistance. For example, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office notified the Russian side of the termination of cooperation not only in the field of extradition and legal assistance in criminal cases, but also in the field of law enforcement assistance, suspending the implementation of the cooperation agreement concluded with the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office in 2013. Unilaterally ceased cooperation with the Russian prosecutor’s office and the prosecutors general of Slovakia and Slovenia. The head of the latter, Drago Shket, arrived in Moscow to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the prosecutor’s office in January of this year and signed an agreement with Igor Krasnov on the development of cooperation for the next two years. The document, in particular, provided for the exchange of best practices in such areas as environmental protection, the fight against cybercrime, the illegal movement of financial assets, and economic crimes. Particular attention was paid to joint work to obtain evidence in cases related to the laundering of criminally acquired assets in order to confiscate them.
“The conscious politicization of international anti-criminal cooperation will ultimately benefit only international crime, an effective rebuff to which is impossible without equal cooperation of all countries,” the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia is sure. They call on their European colleagues “to show a constructive approach, to ensure depoliticized and responsible interaction between law enforcement agencies.”
“Europe and the West as a whole have politicized even spheres as far from geopolitics as sports and culture,” said Abdulkhakim Gadzhiev, a member of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, in turn, “so I’m generally not surprised that Russia began to refuse extradition of fugitives. Our “partners”, in order to annoy Moscow, do not even extradite the murderers and traffickers of children.”
According to the deputy, taking advantage of the international situation, violators of the law are fleeing from Russia to Europe, where they are trying to obtain political asylum, claiming that they are allegedly being persecuted in the Russian Federation for their views. However, it is clear that these are people who have committed economic or other crimes for which they are punished all over the world, including in those countries where they fled. “I’m sure that everyone understands this in the West too,” he added.