Russia Issues Travel Warning to People Wanted by US

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday cautioned people wanted by the United States not to visit nations that have an extradition treaty with it.

“Warning for Russian citizens traveling internationally,” the Foreign Ministry bulletin said, The New York Times reports . “Recently, detentions of Russian citizens in various countries, at the request of American law enforcement, have become more frequent — with the goal of extradition and legal prosecution in the United States.”

The ministry cited examples in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Latvia, and Spain.

“Experience shows that the judicial proceedings against those who were in fact kidnapped and taken to the U.S. are of a biased character, based on shaky evidence, and clearly tilted toward conviction.”

The issue of extradition has often been a contentious one between the United States and Russia, highlighted even more by the case of Edward Snowden, the fugitive former National Security Agency contractor who is wanted on criminal espionage charges.

Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia after living in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow for more than a month.

The United States and Russia lack a formal extradition treaty, according to the Times, and Russian officials cited that in arguing that they could not forcibly return Snowden to the U.S.

In response to the demands by the Obama administration for Snowden’s return, Russian officials have said the United States has routinely ignored extradition requests from Russia.

The country also complained about Russian citizens who have been arrested by the United States or by other countries at Americans’ request, the Times reports.