Comment by the Information and Press Department on the extradition of Russian citizen Yevgeny Nikulin from the Czech Republic to the United States

We are outraged with the Czech Republic’s decision to extradite to the United States Russian citizen Yevgeny Nikulin who was detained at the request of the US side and incarcerated in Prague since October 2016. We are disappointed with the fact that, while making this decision, the Czech side was guided by a striving to display its “allied loyalty” that has now been elevated to the rank of an absolute priority, rather than by legal norms.

For example, this is proved by the rapid examination by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic of a complaint made by Nikulin’s lawyers regarding the verdict of lower courts on the possibility of his extradition to the United States.

The Czech side has ignored the official request of the Prosecutor-General’s Office of the Russian Federation on Mr. Nikulin’s extradition to Russia. Our repeated calls to note the fact that Mr. Nikulin cannot expect an unbiased and fair trial in the United States during the current anti-Russian hysteria, unleashed there, have gone unheeded.

We perceive Prague’s decision as the Czech side’s deliberate and politically motivated step aiming to undermine the constructive foundation of bilateral cooperation.

We will do our best to guarantee the rights of Russian citizen Yevgeny Nikulin and to protect his interests.