MOSCOW, October 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will ask Finland for extradition of a Russian woman's former husband, accused by a Russian court of kidnapping his son, a spokesman for the Russian Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday.
A court in Finland ruled earlier on Tuesday that Rimma Salonen, who has both Russian and Finnish citizenship, had illegally taken her son Anton, who also has dual Russian-Finnish citizenship, out of Finland last year.
Salonen was given an 18-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay 30,000 euros ($44,000) in compensation to her former husband for moral damages and losses.
On April 12 this year, her ex-husband, Paavo Salonen, took Anton, now 6, back to Finland with the help of St. Petersburg-based Finnish diplomat Simo Pietilainen, sparking a diplomatic row between Russia and Finland.
"The crime was committed in Russia's territory, and the main investigative procedures were carried out by Russian investigators," prosecutors' spokesman Vladimir Markin said, adding the case had been handed over to the top investigative body of the Russian Prosecutor's Office and reached its final stage.
Salonen's Finnish lawyer, Johan Backman, said earlier on Tuesday they would appeal the Finnish court's ruling.
Salonen, from Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Region, was arrested on July 31 at an airport in the Finnish city of Tampere, where she had traveled to take out 30,000 euros previously frozen in her Finnish account, and to meet with Anton, as well as Nikita, her 19-year-old son from a previous marriage.
Backman told reporters in August that just before leaving for Finland, his client had contacted Finnish police and received a guarantee from them that she would not be arrested.
Salonen went on trial on September 29. Finnish prosecutors demanded a suspended sentence for her, while her former husband said she should be given a prison sentence of at least 18 months.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in June that the former Finnish diplomat's actions undermined trust between the countries, and Finnish President Tarja Halonen condemned the behavior of the diplomat.
