Russia: Sweden's refusal to give out a native of Chechnya is political hypocrisy

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia has treated as "political hypocrisy" the refusal of Swedish authorities to extradite Chechen Aslan Adaev, suspected of terrorism and other crimes.

On April 22, the State Office of Public Prosecutor of Sweden declared that it has grounds to reject extradition of the suspect Aslan Adaev to Russia.

The comment of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on this occasion runs as follows: "Unfortunately, this is not the first case, when the Swedish authorities refuse to cooperate with the Russian counterparts on practical aspects of fighting terrorism. Of the same sort was refusal last year of Swedish authorities to extradite Uspaev to Russia, although it had been established that in 1999 he kidnapped in the territory of the Chechen Republic photographer of ITAR-TASS V. G. Yatsina, whose fate is still unknown."

The present decision of the Swedish government is justified by the conclusion of the Supreme Court of Sweden, which considers the crimes incriminated to Adaev to be purely political, runs the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry, as quoted by "Gazeta.Ru".

"The position of the Swedish authorities is nothing more but political hypocrisy and an attempt to split terrorists into bad and good ones. By its decisions on A. Adaev and M. Uspaev, Stockholm is sending a signal, willingly or not, that Sweden can be a silent haven for terrorists," declares the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.