Russia on Thursday issued an advisory to its citizens against travelling abroad, claiming that they may be arrested in other countries at the request of the United States, Reuters reported. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Washington was “hunting” for Russian citizens, who after being arrested would be extradited to the US.
“Despite our calls to improve cooperation between the relevant US and Russian authorities, US special services have effectively continued ‘hunting’ for Russians around the world,” the travel warning said. “Considering these circumstances, we strongly insist that Russian citizens carefully weigh up all the risks when planning trips abroad.”
The ministry said that at least 10 Russian citizens had been arrested abroad in 2017. The ministry cited the examples of four Russians held in Spain, Latvia and Greece allegedly on US cyber crime charges. US federal authorities arrested or indicted seven Russians in 2017, compared with two a year in the preceding six years, Reuters said.
Russia also pointed to the case of Stanislav Lisov, who was extradited from Spain to the US for allegedly creating a computer virus that targeted customers of financial institutions, causing losses worth millions of dollars.
The country’s foreign ministry also claimed in its advisory that Russian citizens extradited to the US would face unfair treatment at the hands of the US justice system.
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