MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) - Russia has criticized the attempts to link the situation of former U.S. special services employee Edward Snowden to the situation of Russian citizens convicted in the U.S. and serving sentences there.
"I want to reiterate that we are not linking these situations and the situation with Snowden. The circumstances are totally different here," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with Interfax, responding to a question as to whether an agreement can be reached with the U.S. on the extradition of Russian citizens Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko now that Russia has granted temporary asylum to Snowden.
"There is a clear tendency in the situation with our citizens. Snowden is a person who manifested his initiative after weighing all pros and cons. We just couldn't have reacted in any other way. His fate, his personal prospects cannot be used as pawns now," the diplomat said.
As to the Russian citizens imprisoned in the U.S., Ryabkov said "it is one of the most alarming tendencies of our time."
"Unfortunately, the totally vile practice of luring or abducting Russian citizens to face trial in the U.S. continues. It poisons the atmosphere of bilateral relations," Ryabkov said.
"It's one of the sources of our very serious differences with the U.S.," he said.
"We still have no clear idea of whether the U.S. is ready, and, if it is ready, when they can have a constructive discussion with us on the use of the 1983 Council of Europe convention on the extradition of convicts for serving their sentences. In our view, it's one of the workable schemes. However, we have no progress in this sphere," Ryabkov said.
"Politically, these situations with Bout, Yaroshenko, and other our citizens have a very serious negative effect on the nature of Russian-U.S. relations and the prospects of their progress," he said. "Not a lot will be achieved if the issues of Bout and Yaroshenko are not resolved, at least in the humanitarian aspect of our relations," Ryabkov said.
A complete text of the interview will be published on the website www.interfax.ru