Ukraine prepares extradition of Russian militant detained in Finland

Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General is preparing extradition files for one of the leaders of the Russian paramilitary group Rusich, Yan Petrovsky, whose detention in Finland was reported earlier.

Source: Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The Russian is under investigation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) "on suspicion of participation in a terrorist organisation". The investigation suggests that in 2014, Petrovsky together with the Russian-backed terrorists from the "Luhansk People's Republic" fought against Ukraine as part of the Rusich Sabotage and Assault Reconnaissance Group.

"Within the framework of cooperation with Europol, the Prosecutor General's Office obtained a report on the detention of this person in Helsinki by the Migration Service of the Republic of Finland, as well as information about the prospect of his deportation to Russia," the prosecutor's office explained.

Therefore, Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office sent a request to the Finnish law enforcement agencies on 15 August to detain and temporarily arrest the person. This happened on Wednesday, 23 August.

"The initiator of the investigation is currently preparing the materials necessary for the extradition of the person," the agency said, adding that the pre-trial investigation is under procedural guidance of the Luhansk Oblast Prosecutor's Office.

The Finnish media reported the arrest of Yan Petrovsky in Finland on 25 August. The man was included in the EU and US sanctions list for actions endangering Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, and security.

Petrovsky, who lived in Norway for several years in his youth, also participated in the war in Syria as part of a far-right group fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Norway deported the man to Russia in 2016 as he was considered a security threat.

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