Russia slams arrests of nationals in Germany, Italy at US request

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday criticized the arrests of Russian nationals in Germany and Italy at the request of the US.

"We consider the detentions of Russian citizens in Italy and Germany at the request of the American Ministry of Justice for their subsequent extradition to the United States as a continuation of the large-scale campaign launched by Washington to capture Russians to whom there are ‘claims’ for their subsequent guaranteed conviction by the American punitive justice for long terms of imprisonment," Zakharova said in a statement on the ministry's website.

She characterized the arrests as "taking hostages for the subsequent use in political purposes," noting that US national legislation was applied far from American territory.

"As part of Washington's actual involvement in the situation in Ukraine as a party to the conflict, there is another attempt to arrange a show of violence in order to intimidate business circles in Russia and abroad," she said.

Zakharova expects that a "manhunt on Russian citizens" on behalf of US intelligence will be expanded but she promised that "such hostile actions will not remain unanswered."

"The Russian Foreign Ministry once again calls on anyone who has even the slightest reason to suspect the presence of ‘interest’ on the part of the United States to refrain from foreign trips to any countries unfriendly to Russia, as well as states with which Washington has bilateral extradition agreements," said Zakharova.

US authorities charged five Russian nationals Wednesday, including the son of the head of Russia's Krasnoyarsk region, Artyom Uss, along with two Venezuelan oil traders, with evading sanctions and money laundering.

The US Justice Department said Uss and the others were detained Oct.17 in Germany and Italy.

They face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.