Interpol is ready to reconsider its refusal to put former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on the international wanted list on condition that Russia provides additional materials on the case, the Prosecutor General's representative Alexander Kurennoi told the Interfax news agency Monday.
According to Kurennoi, the issue was discussed at a meeting of the Interpol Working Group, which was attended by the department's representatives. "The Russian side has shown its willingness to use legal approaches to solve all the problems that occur in cooperation with [Interpol]," Kurennoi said, Interfax reported.
Earlier on Monday, an unidentified source told Interfax that Interpol had requested additional materials on the Khodorkovsky case from Russia. The Russian side has assured Interpol that the requested documents will soon be sent to France, Interfax reported.
Khodorkovsky's spokeswoman Kulle Pispanen called the recent media report on Interpol an information attack.
“I do not know these sources. It all looks like another hoax or hatchet job by the Investigative Committee,” she said Monday in an interview with the Govorit Moskva radio station. In February, Interpol refused Russia's request to put Khodorkovsky on the international wanted list in connection with the killing of Vladimir Petukhov, the mayor of the Siberian oil town of Nefteyugansk. Interpol has considered his prosecution to be politically motivated.
Former-Yukos CEO Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, spent more than a decade in jail on tax evasion and embezzlement charges. He was freed after receiving a pardon from President Vladimir Putin in 2013.
In December 2015, Khodorkovsky, who has been residing abroad since his release from jail, was charged in absentia for masterminding two murders, including the 1998 murder of Petukhov.
Later that month, the Russian court arrested him in absentia and declared him internationally wanted.
Khodorkovsky denies the charges, saying that his prosecution is politically motivated.
Contact the author at a.bazenkova@imedia.ru
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