MOSCOW — A former Russian atomic energy minister arrested on embezzlement charges in Switzerland will be extradited to his homeland rather than the United States, a court said Thursday, ending a fierce tug of war between Moscow and Washington.
The decision by the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne overturns an October ruling that Yevgeny Adamov should be extradited to the United States to face charges of money laundering, conspiracy to transfer stolen money and securities, tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Russian politicians and media had portrayed the U.S. extradition request as an effort to gather nuclear intelligence, smear Russia's image and perhaps collect damaging information about other top Moscow officials.
Adamov was arrested on a U.S. warrant while visiting his daughter in Switzerland in the spring; after he was detained, Russian authorities filed corruption charges against him and sought his extradition. The effort was widely seen as an attempt to keep Adamov, Russia's nuclear energy minister from 1998 to 2001, out of American hands.
"We are satisfied with the decision," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said after Thursday's ruling, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. The U.S. Embassy in Switzerland issued a statement expressing disappointment.
"For Russia, this is an important diplomatic victory," said Vladimir A. Orlov, director of the Moscow-based PIR Center for Policy Studies, a nongovernmental organization that studies arms control and nuclear nonproliferation issues. "He could have been sent to the U.S. and justice would have been served there. But in terms of image, this would have been a blow to Russia."
American politicians and authorities have described the U.S. extradition request as a purely criminal and legal matter related to charges that Adamov, while heading an institute before becoming a minister, embezzled $9 million in funds the United States had given to help safeguard Russian nuclear facilities. Some of the funds were allegedly used to finance Adamov's business activities in the United States.
Adamov has acknowledged depositing aid money in private accounts, but he denies wrongdoing and argues that this was a common procedure used to safeguard funds during a time of hyperinflation and upheaval in Russia's banking system.
