"I consider this decision to be aggressive," Burkov told Russian journalists about his assessment of the decision of the Israeli ministry to extradite him to the United States. In addition, he said he would like the details of his case to be published in the media.
Burkov also commented on the initiative to be exchanged for Israeli national Naama Issachar, who is sentenced to a jail term in Russia.
"I think this is a friendly initiative. This is a good initiative. It can return everyone to their countries," Burkov told Russian reporters.
Burkov was detained at a Tel Aviv airport at the US request back in 2015. Moscow has requested that Burkov be extradited to Russia, not the United States.
Issachar, who has dual Israeli-US citizenship, was arrested at a Moscow airport earlier this year while she was on her way to Israel from India. She was found guilty of drug smuggling and sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. The penalty has been harshly criticized in Israel as disproportionate since the amount of drugs found was allowed for personal use in Israel, though it is considered illegal in Russia.
