A shooting incident occurred last month at a crowd of people in a concert hall outside Moscow (Al Jazeera)
Yesterday, Sunday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced its demand that Ukraine extradite all persons involved in terrorist acts that took place in Russia, including the head of the Ukrainian Security Service.
In an immediate response to the Russian request, the Ukrainian Security Service rejected the request, describing it as “meaningless,” noting that the Russian Foreign Ministry “ignored” the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin had an international arrest warrant issued against him.
The statement issued by the ministry quoted a list of violent incidents that Russia has witnessed since the Russian forces’ war on Ukraine in February 2022, including bombings that resulted in the death of the daughter of a prominent nationalist and a blogger specializing in war affairs, in addition to another incident that led to a writer being seriously injured.
The Ministry added that investigations into these incidents showed that the effects of these crimes lead them to Ukraine.
The statement explained that among those wanted for extradition is the head of the Ukrainian Security Service, Vasyl Malyuk, who admits that his agency was behind the attacks on the bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula to the Russian mainland since the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia seized control of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and the bridge was built after the annexation of the region.
The statement also indicated that Russia calls on the authorities in Kiev to immediately stop all support for terrorist activity, extradite the guilty, and compensate the victims for damages.
He added that any violation by Ukraine of its obligations under the anti-terrorism agreements would lead to its being held accountable under international law.
Russia's demands are meaningless
The Ukrainian Security Service confirmed that the Russian demands seem ridiculous because they come from “the terrorist state itself,” and therefore any statements issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry do not carry any meaning for Ukraine.
The agency's statement indicated that there was an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Putin regarding the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, adding that "the court in The Hague is waiting for him."
The Russian statement indirectly referred to the shooting incident that occurred last March on a crowd of people in a concert hall outside Moscow, killing 144 people.
For its part, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, and American officials confirmed the existence of intelligence information indicating that the organization’s branch in Afghanistan, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan, was the one carrying out the attack.
Russian investigators reported last week that there was evidence indicating that the gunmen who carried out the concert hall attack were linked to "Ukrainian nationalists." While Kiev denies any connection to this attack.
Yesterday, Sunday, Russian news agencies quoted the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, that the competent authorities are working to identify those responsible for the attack.
Source: Reuters