Putin Discussed Extradition Of Russian National Vinnik With Greek Prime Minister -Document

ATHENS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin has brought up the issue of extraditing Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik, kept in a Greek jail, at the December talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, a document of the Russian Foreign Ministry, obtained by Sputnik, read.

Vinnik's mother Vera earlier sent a letter to Putin, which was later referred to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"The issue of returning A.V. Vinnik to Russia is invariably discussed in the course of all bilateral contacts at all levels. In particular, the Russian President, V.Putin, raised this topic during the talks with Greek Prime Minister A.Tsipras in Moscow on December 7, 2018," the letter from the Foreign Ministry's Consular Department to the mother of the jailed Russian citizen, read.

The Russian Foreign Ministry underlined in a letter that the Russian authorities, including the Prosecutor General's Office, were monitoring the developments and has been in contact with the Greek authorities on the issue.

Vinnik was detained in Greece in July 2017 at the request of the US authorities on various charges, including laundering $4 billion through bitcoin cryptocurrency exchange BTC-E, which he allegedly headed. The exchange has said that the Russian national has never been engaged in its activities. The suspect himself has denied the US accusations.

In Russia, Vinnik is wanted for separate fraud charges, but he has denied some of them. France also put the Russian national on the wanted list in June claiming Vinnik was complicit in extortion and money laundering on its territory.

All the three countries have been seeking Vinnik's extradition. On July 13, a Thessaloniki court decided to extradite him to France.