With Snowden in Moscow, US will press real hard to have Ustinov extradited - expert

Author: us-russia
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With Snowden in Moscow, US will press real hard to have Ustinov extradited - expert
Published 22-07-2013, 15:39
On Monday the court in Lithuanian capital Vilnius has ruled to extradite a Russian citizen Dmitry Ustinov to the United States. Ustinov is wanted in the US on charges of illegally exporting American-made night vision devices which can be used in combat. His defense team is lodging an appeal. The Lithuanian authorities detained Ustinov on April 15th as he arrived at Vilnius Airport. If extradited to the US and found guilty, Ustinov may face up to 20 years behind bars. The Voice of Russia discussed the issue with George Mapp, an investigative journalist who followed the case of Viktor Bout and Ustinov very closely.

Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_07_22/With-Snowden-in-Moscow-US-will-press-real-hard-to-have-Ustinov-extradited-expert-9811/

Do you believe the goggles that Ustinov stands accused of smuggling were indeed of any military significance?

Obviously the US thinks so and the charges are very small. I try to understand Russia finds this case pretty hard because they are very upset. But now I am sure the US government is pressing Lithuania very hard to get Ustinov extradited with Snowden being in Moscow. So, I think it is more politics. Russia and the US politics have been getting very dirty over the last 6 months, they caught alleged spying agent of Russia a few months ago. They are getting pretty nasty in the last few months.

What is it in them that can attract potential buyers?

I think it is the small issue. Obviously the US tries to make it into a big issue. I can understand that if he was trying to smuggle arms, this seems to me very insignificant in terms of arms deals and I think it is a political game between the US and Russia that has been going for months.

What developments are you expecting now?

Obviously I am sure Russian government is going to come out with the statement that is against this and I am sure now that if Lithuania extradites him, there is going to be more back and forth and I think this extradition will push very hard for a couple of month because of Edward Snowden. I think the US is very upset with this issue and this is the way they came back at Russia somehow.

 

A court has taken into consideration the American side’s arguments. From now on, Ustinov has seven days to appeal.
 

 

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