Kazakhstan has agreed to extradite Nikita Kislitsin, an employee of global cybersecurity firm F.A.C.C.T, detained in Almaty, to Russia and rejected an extradition request of the United States, Artem Oganov, a senior consul at the Russian Consulate General in Almaty, told Sputnik on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st August, 2023) Kazakhstan has agreed to extradite Nikita Kislitsin, an employee of global cybersecurity firm F.A.C.C.T, detained in Almaty, to Russia and rejected an extradition request of the United States, Artem Oganov, a senior consul at the Russian Consulate General in Almaty, told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"Kazakhstan rejected a (extradition) request of the US and gave green light to the Russian one," the diplomat said.
However, the Kazakh General Prosecutor's Office has yet to decide whether to extradite Kislitsin to Russia or to the US, the agency's spokesman, Darkhan Duisenbai, told Sputnik.
"On August 1, 2023, the Investigative Court of Almaty considered and granted the prosecutor's request to apply for extradition arrest of Kislitsin I.I. Issues of extradition (satisfaction of rejection of requests) were not the subject of judicial consideration, as they are not within the competence of the prosecutor's office according to the Criminal Procedure Code," Duisenbai said.
The decision on the two extradition requests will be taken by the Kazakh General Prosecutor's Office in accordance with international agreements and the Kazakh law after the extradition review is completed, the official added.
In late June, F.A.C.C.T told Sputnik that its employee Kislitsin had been detained in Kazakhstan on June 22 at the US's request. The company said it was providing him with full support and had contacted the Russian Consulate General in Kazakhstan. Russian Consul General in Almaty Evgeny Bobrov told Sputnik that the consulate had asked the Kazakh authorities to refrain from a streamlined extradition procedure to Washington. Both Russia and the US accuse Kislitsin of obtaining illegal access to classified information.
On June 29, Kazakh Deputy Prosecutor General Ulan Baizhanov told Sputnik that Kazakhstan would consider the grounds outlined in the requests for Kislitsin's extradition, adding that Russia's request could take precedence over the US one, as Kislitsin is a Russian citizen.
