Posted on 10/03/2005 7:07:05 AM PDT by aculeus
Former Russian nuclear energy minister Yevgeny Adamov is to be extradited from Switzerland to the United States, the Swiss justice ministry has announced.
Russia has been fighting the move for fear his detailed knowledge of the country's nuclear weapons programme could fall into US hands.
The US accuses Mr Adamov of embezzling up to $9m (£4.9m) it gave to improve security at Russian nuclear facilities.
The nuclear physicist was arrested in Switzerland in May 2005.
Hunger strike
Mr Adamov, who was Russia's nuclear minister from 1998 to 2001, denies the charges and has said he would prefer to be extradited to his homeland.
He has 30 days to appeal to the Swiss federal supreme court against the US extradition order, the justice ministry said.
Spokesman Rudolf Wyss said the US request had been given precedence because it meant Mr Adamov could still be extradited to Russia once he had served any sentence imposed in the US.
If he had been sent back to Russia first, it would not have been possible to re-extradite him to Washington later, he said.
Mr Adamov started a hunger strike on Monday to press for extradition to Russia or release, Mr Wyss added.
The former minister was arrested on 2 May while visiting his daughter in the Swiss capital, Bern, on a warrant issued in the US city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
A US federal grand jury has since indicted him on charges of conspiracy to transfer stolen money, conspiracy to defraud the US, money laundering and tax evasion.
© BBC MMV
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