Russia said it was counting on the Thai judiciary’s independence to handle alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout’s US extradition objectively, and warned Washington against meddling in the case.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also denied any “trade-off” between Washington and Moscow on the Russian national, the so-called “Merchant of Death,” whom the US wants extradited on terrorism charges.
“We have no intention of interfering in the affairs of [Thai] justice and we are counting on the fact that others will not try to influence it,” Russian news agencies late on Tuesday quoted Lavrov as saying.
Thailand’s Criminal Court, citing insufficient evidence, on Tuesday dismissed proceedings surrounding new charges against Bout for alleged money laundering and fraud. That removed a major obstacle to his US extradition.
Lavrov said he hoped that US messages to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who could have a final say on whether to send him to the US, would not influence Bout’s fate.
He also rejected any deal between Russia and the US on Bout.
Bout, a 43-year-old former Soviet air force pilot, was arrested in 2008 after a sting operation in Bangkok involving undercover US agents.
Meanwhile, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that his government would hold a special meeting to discuss the pros and cons of extraditing Bout to the US, weighing concerns about relations with Moscow and Washington.
Abhisit made the comments to Thai reporters traveling with him from Brussels to New York overnight on Tuesday.
Abhisit returns to Thailand tomorrow, which is the earliest day Bout could be extradited.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in