WASHINGTON: Russia will 鈥渘ever鈥� extradite any of the 13 Russians indicted by the United States for election-meddling, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, even as he insisted they didn鈥檛 act on behalf of his government.
Putin鈥檚 comments in an NBC News interview airing Sunday illustrated the long odds that the Russian operatives will ever appear in US court to answer charges of running a massive, secret social media trolling and targeted messaging operation to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. The United States has no extradition treaty with Moscow and can鈥檛 compel it to hand over citizens, and a provision in Russia鈥檚 constitution prohibits extraditing its citizens to foreign countries.
鈥淣ever. Never. Russia does not extradite its citizens to anyone,鈥� Putin said.
Even if the Russians never face justice in the United States, the sweeping indictment served the added purpose of increasing the public鈥檚 awareness about the elaborate foreign campaign to meddle in American democracy, legal experts have said. For years, the Justice Department has supported indicting foreigners in absentia as a way to shame them and make it harder for them to travel abroad.
The detailed, 37-page indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller last month alleges Russian operatives working for the Internet Research Agency used fake social media accounts and on-the-ground political organizing to exacerbate divisive political issues in the US Posing as American activists, the operatives tried to conceal the effort鈥檚 Russian roots by purchasing space on US computer servers and using US email providers.
Yet Putin argued his government has little to answer for until the US provides 鈥渟ome materials, specifics and data.鈥� He said Russia would be 鈥減repared to look at them and talk about it,鈥� while repeating his government鈥檚 insistence that it had no role in directing the operatives to act against the United States.
鈥淚 know that they do not represent the Russian state, the Russian authorities,鈥� Putin said. 鈥淲hat they did specifically, I have no idea.鈥�
Putin: Russia will 鈥榥ever鈥� extradite citizens accused by US
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