Russian businessman Alexander Vinnik, who is accused of financial crimes in the United States, is being detained in awful conditions in prison and facing constant pressure, his mother Vera Vinnik told Sputnik
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th March, 2023) Russian businessman Alexander Vinnik, who is accused of financial crimes in the United States, is being detained in awful conditions in prison and facing constant pressure, his mother Vera Vinnik told Sputnik.
"There is nothing new. They are putting pressure on him in different ways. You cannot reach him by phone. food is unbearable. Now they have quarantine there, no one is even allowed outside," Vinnik's mother said.
Russian diplomats have even sent a note of protest to Washington over "awful" conditions of Vinnik's detention after visiting him in the prison earlier in the month, his mother added.
Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 at the request of the US government. The Russian businessman was initially extradited to France, where he was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $119,433, but then he was returned to Greece before being brought to the US last August. Vinnik is accused of financial crimes by US authorities, including money laundering through his cryptocurrency trading platform BTC-e.
In November 2022, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov visited Vinnik at the prison in San Francisco where the latter is being detained. Following the visit, Antonov said that Moscow would issue a complaint to the US government over its failure to provide adequate conditions for a meeting with the Russian citizen.
