MOSCOW, October 3 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian parliamentarian criticized on Monday the Swiss Department of Justice's decision to extradite Yevgeny Adamov, a former Russian minister of nuclear power, to the United States, where he faces embezzlement charges. Vladimir Pekhtin, deputy speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said Russia and Switzerland were signatories of an international extradition agreement, which meant that the ex-minister should have been sent to Russia after its Prosecutor General's Office filed an official request to do so in May.
"Russia and Switzerland have an international agreement on extradition and, correspondingly, the decision should be legal," Pekhtin said.
Other parliamentarians also voiced their disapproval. Mikhail Grishankov, deputy chairman of the Duma security committee, said Adamov knew top state secrets and his extradition to the U.S. could "damage Russia's state security."
Duma Deputy Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky said the U.S. wanted to obtain information from Adamov on Iran's capability to produce nuclear weapons. He also said corruption was to blame for Adamov's extradition to the U.S. In his view, as Adamov is a Russian citizen and Russia submitted its extradition request before the U.S., the ex-minister should have been sent to his homeland.
The head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, Alexander Rumyantsev, said Russia should try to secure Adamov's extradition because he is a Russian citizen.
