MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax-AVN) - Refusals by the United Kingdom and the United States to extradite Chechen militants' emissaries to Russia cast a shadow over the level of Russia's cooperation with these countries, Anatoly Safonov, the Russian president's envoy on international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and transnational organized crime, told Interfax.
"As far as the political context is concerned, these facts throw a shadow over our generally fruitful cooperation," he said.
The extradition of Akhmed Zakayev, who is currently residing in London, to Russia is a matter of principle, Safonov said.
"This issue remains on the agenda of our cooperation with our British colleagues. Some new content will be added to it," he said. The Russian authorities are planning to provide materials that, the UK authorities believe, are required for a positive decision on Zakayev's extradition, he added.
On July 26, an expert group led by Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev left for London, where they spent ten days working together with their UK colleagues to analyze a number of criminal cases and extradition denials issued as part of them.
"We will do our best to bridge the gap and to use the mechanism of international law cooperation, including taking the national legislation of Great Britain into consideration," Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said in an earlier interview.