Fugitive Russian businessmen Yevgeny Chichvarkin, the ex-CEO of cell phone retailer Euroset, said on Thursday he would return to Russia from self-imposed exile in Britain if Moscow cancels his extradition request.
Earlier in the day, Russia's Supreme Court upheld an acquittal verdict for former Euroset top-managers who had been charged with the abduction of the company's shipping agent in 2003. The agent had allegedly stolen large quantities of mobile phones.
Chichvarkin said he was pleased with the ruling, commenting though however that the investigation had led to "several broken lives".
"If the request is recalled, nothing will prevent me from returning to the motherland and serving faithfully the people and the tsar," Chichvarkin said.
Chichvarkin fled Russian for London in 2009, and six months later the Russian Prosecutor General's Office issued an extradition request for him.
On September 7, 2009, a London court ordered Chichvarkin's arrest, but then released him on bail. It is now considering Russia's extradition request.
LONDON, January 20 (RIA Novosti)
