“After the start of a special military operation, law enforcement agencies of Western countries, primarily the states of the European Union, refused to cooperate with Russia for the sake of international crime,” the department said in a statement.
It is clarified that in 2023, foreign states refused to fulfill 66 requests for legal assistance, of which 34 were for political reasons: Switzerland - 26, Latvia - 4, USA - 2, Bulgaria and Liechtenstein - 1 each.
For example, in October 2023, Bulgaria refused legal assistance on a Russian request in a criminal case regarding the bombing of a truck on the Crimean Bridge due to the fact that the execution of the request “could harm the sovereignty of Bulgaria.”
“In 2023, foreign states refused to satisfy 114 Russian requests for the extradition of persons for criminal prosecution and execution of sentences, of which 38 were for political reasons,” the statement notes.
Among the persons whose extradition was refused for political reasons are those accused of murder, causing grievous bodily harm dangerous to the life of the victim, participation in the activities of a terrorist organization, illegal sale of narcotic drugs and other crimes.
At the same time, the department points out that there are also positive examples of cooperation.
Thus, in 2023, the competent authorities of foreign states made decisions on the extradition of 151 persons to the Russian Federation, and 376 Russian requests for legal assistance in criminal cases were fulfilled.
“For example, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia has satisfied the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation to extradite a person to bring a person to criminal responsibility for using a deliberately forged document and attempted fraud on a large scale when receiving payments,” noted the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Earlier, Prosecutor General of Russia Igor Krasnov met with the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askhat Zhumagali.