The detention of a Russian pilot in Liberia by U.S. intelligence agencies violates international law and is practically considered kidnapping, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
Konstantin Yaroshenko, 41, along with other members of an alleged drug trafficking group, was detained in Liberia in May. On Tuesday, a New York city court arrested them. They are accused of trafficking drugs from Latin America to Africa and then to Europe and the United States.
"The Russian side is convinced that such activities directly violate the relevant norms of international law, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, and the bilateral Consular Convention of 1964," the ministry said in a statement. "This is practically the kidnapping of a Russian citizen on the territory of a third country," it said.
"The activities of the U.S. side on the forced and secret transfer of our citizen from Monrovia to New York can be regarded as an act of freewill," the ministry said.
MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti)
