Valery Gurbulya said it was "international practice when a person charged with such crimes is tried by the country whose national he is, [and] extradition in such cases is prohibited by most countries' laws."
"Velchev, suspected of killing an NTV journalist, is a Moldovan national, so he should answer to the Moldovan justice," Gurbulya said.
"The Russian Prosecutor General's office is aware of it, and, as far as I know, they are preparing materials on this case to hand over to us," Gurbulya said.
Moldovan Interior Minister Gheorghe Papuc said earlier that Velchev, detained by Moldovan police Friday, would be extradited to Russia when the necessary procedures were completed.
Zimin was found dead by colleagues in his Moscow apartment on February 27. An autopsy revealed he had died of head injuries and police said the door to the apartment had not been forced open.
Investigators on the case said Velchev met Zimin in Moscow February 25 and spent time with him at a Moscow night club until about two in the morning. They left the club together and went to Zimin's apartment, where an argument is said to have broken out before Velchev allegedly beat the reporter to death.
Early in March NTV said it would pay 1 million rubles (about $36,000) for information leading to the arrest of the suspect in the killing.
