Moscow to Seek Return of Russian Alleged Hacker From US

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow will seek return of Russian alleged hacker Vladimir Drinkman, who was extradited to the United States from the Netherlands, a Russian Foreign Ministry's human rights ombudsman said Saturday.

"We will continue to provide Vladimir Drinkman, a Russian citizen, with all necessary consular and legal assistance. We demand the US side to strictly observe his rights, including the procedural and legal interests. We will seek the soonest return of our national to Russia," Konstantin Dolgov said.

Dolgov expressed concern over the decision of the Dutch authorities to extradite Drinkman to the United States at the request of the FBI, despite Moscow's arguments in favor of his primary extradition to Russia.

The Russian ombudsman added that Drinkman's defense had all rights to consider this case politically motivated.

"Washington continues the vicious practice, which violates the norms of international law, of the extraterritorial application of US laws against Russian citizens without presentation of any evidence against them, bypassing the Russian-US Treaty of 1999 on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters," he said.

Drinkman, who has been under arrest in Netherlands since June 2012, is currently pending a New Jersey court hearing scheduled for next Tuesday.

The US prosecutors described the hacking scheme the Russian citizen was allegedly involved in the largest in US history, as it costed the banks' clients more than $300 million.