Yesterday, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office sent new materials on the case of Russian-Jewish businessman Leonid Nevzlin, who resides in Israel, to Interpol.
Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov said he was seeking Nevzlin's extradition to Russia to face new charges, including murder and attempted murder.
Israel's Ministry of Justice said in response that it did not disclose details of extradition requests or international arrest warrants. However, "Globes" has learned that the Russian authorities have sent information about Nevzlin to the international department of Israel's State Attorney's Office, and it appears that an extradition request has also been sent.
Israel has had an extradition treaty with Russia since March 2000 by virtue of the European Convention on Extradition, to which Israel acceded in 1967, and which Russia ratified in 1999.
A spokesperson for Nevzlin said in response, "Amnesty International, the European Parliament, and the court in the UK, are only some of the bodies that have found that Russian president Vladimir Putin is persecuting Mikhail Khodorovsky, Leonid Nevzlin, and the other shareholders in Yukos, who dared to support democratic opposition parties and openly come out against him. Putin does not hesitate to make use of the Russian authorities that are subordinate to him to create false charges - in the best tradition of the KGB, in which Putin grew up."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 6, 2005