MOSCOW (AP) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Oct. 5 it had called in a top Swiss diplomat to protest Switzerland’s decision to extradite former atomic energy minister Yevgeny Adamov to the United States.
Moscow had hoped to try Adamov itself rather than risk his revealing nuclear secrets to the United States. Switzerland’s Justice Ministry, however, ruled Oct. 3 that Adamov must first face charges in U.S. courts, where he has been indicted on conspiracy and other charges.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said officials underscored to the Swiss charges d’affaires what it called the “unjust decision, with which we do not agree and which does take into account the substantial arguments in favor of extraditing Y. O. Adamov to Russia.”
“We also noted that this puzzling and disappointing decision will affect Russian-Swiss relations,” the statement said.
The statement did not identified the envoy; no one answered the telephones at the Swiss Embassy late Oct. 5.
Swiss authorities arrested Adamov on a U.S. warrant May 2, while he was visiting his daughter in the Swiss capital, Bern.
American authorities suspect Adamov of embezzling U.S. Energy Department funds and diverting them into private projects in the United States, Ukraine and Russia.
Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, who was in Moscow for discussions on preventing the spread of nuclear materials, said he did not know the facts of the case, but that it was essential that funds earmarked for Russian nuclear safety work go where they are intended to go.
It is “very important that this be handled in the criminal system, and not spill over into the intelligence sphere,” said Nunn, who was attending a board meeting of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the non-proliferation organization he co-founded with media mogul Ted Turner.
