Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday denied that the 13 Russian nationals accused by special counsel Robert Mueller of meddling with the US presidential elections of 2016 were acting on behalf of the Russian authorities, and then vowed they would never be extradited to stand trial in the United States.
“I know that they did not represent the Russian state, the Russian authorities. What they did specifically, I have no idea”, Putin said in an interview with NBC TV.
He said he was unaware of who could be behind those people and called on the US to provide reliable evidence that they had done anything wrong. “Let them just not talk to the press, let them provide some materials, specifics and data. We will be prepared to look at them and talk about them,” he said.
But then, when he was asked whether these people could be extradited to the United States, the Russian leader stressed: “Never. Russia does not extradite its citizens to anyone, just like the United States.”
The Russian president is wrong, of course. The Extradition Clause in the US Constitution requires states, upon demand of another state, to deliver a fugitive from justice who has committed a “treason, felony or other crime” to the state from which the fugitive has fled. And the US has extradition treaties with more than 100 countries – including Russia.
On February 16, the US Department of Justice indicted 13 individuals and three organizations from Russia for allegedly interfering in the US presidential election in 2016 – businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin and 12 staff members of the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, which are accused of efforts to defraud the United States.