The United States has long begun the process of moving its legislative field beyond its own national borders.
One of the consequences of such actions was the regular captures of citizens of other countries, in fact, real abductions. The scheme of pressure has always been the same: a charge of a crime by American justice, an arrest warrant, capture in a third country, removal to the United States, conviction.
For example, in the period from 2010 to 2020, American justice captured so many IT people that experts in this industry said without jokes that Washington was simply “staffing” a certain division of hackers with “personnel”.
Here are just a few facts. In 2010, Nikita Kuzmin was arrested in the United States, accused by the US authorities of creating and spreading the Gozi virus. In March 2011, Roman Seleznev was accused in absentia of stealing credit card data of US citizens in the United States, and soon he was detained by American intelligence services in the Maldives and transferred to the United States. In January 2012, Vladimir Zdorovenin was extradited from Switzerland to the United States, accused by the US authorities of cyber fraud. In June 2013, Alexander Panin was arrested at the airport in Atlanta (USA), he was charged, in particular, with the creation of the SpyEye malware.
There are many goals for the direct hunting of American special services for Russian citizens. But the main thing is to get into your hands the bearers of secrets, special knowledge, agents of Russian services, passing it off as a crime. By dissolving it in cases of a completely different kind and presenting its own and international public as the struggle of the United States for the rule of law. Indeed, in Washington they see themselves as the only world force, which means that the they, gendarmes, should possess a world scale.
In total, about 50 thousand foreigners are kept in US prisons. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry for 2011 (new data has not been published since then), there were about 350 Russians in American prisons. Let’s remember how it all started. The first case of the capture by American intelligence services of a Russian citizen in a third country and his removal to the United States occurred with pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko in May 2010. Almost in parallel, the story of Viktor Bout developed, which is by far the most egregious case. In 2008, American agents under the guise of Colombian rebels lured Bout to Bangkok, where he was arrested, and soon taken to the States. On April 5, 2012, Bout was sentenced to 25 years in prison. For 14 years now, a Russian citizen has been imprisoned on trumped-up charges!
All this time, Victor’s wife Alla But is fighting for his release. It is worth noting that Konstantin Yaroshenko was exchanged from the Americans in April 2022, and this gave hope for the release of Bout.
Despite repeated attempts by the Russian authorities to rescue Russian citizens, the only real way to return, as practice has shown, is an exchange. As once with the captured scouts. So Yaroshenko was exchanged for an American citizen Trevor Reid convicted in the Russian Federation.
The other day, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced a proposal to exchange Viktor Bout for two US citizens convicted in Russia. This is Paul Whelan (espionage) and basketball player Brittney Griner (drug smuggling). The Russian side, as follows from the Western media, called such a proposal incorrect and offered to release Vadim Krasikov as well. In Germany, he was sentenced for the alleged murder of a fugitive terrorist field commander in Berlin. The other day, Biden’s press secretary called the proposal of the Russian Federation frivolous, without specifying its essence. Right there in Moscow, Britney Griner was given nine years. Negotiations are ongoing.
Hoping for a speedy release of Viktor Bout, it is necessary to put an end to the very practice, the principle, when a citizen of the Russian Federation is seized and taken to the States, where they then do what they want with him. In such a situation, any – I emphasize, any – citizen of Russia country is in no way protected from arbitrariness and abduction by the US authorities.
Nikolai Starikov, RT
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