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WILL SWITZERLAND EXTRADITE RUSSIAN EX-MINISTER TO USA OR HOME?

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GENEVA, May 23 (RIA Novosti, Ekaterina Andrianova) - Yevgeny Adamov, once Russia's Nuclear Energy Minister, is under arrest in Bern. His lawyers and Swiss authorities have agreed between themselves to keep silent, for the time being, about his opinion of prospects to be extradited to Russia. They will not announce it before all aspects of the issue are cleared up, down to the smallest detail, one of the lawyers-Stefan Wehrenberg, a Swiss legal expert, said to Novosti today.

The suspect was questioned in Bern Friday. In particular, he was asked whether he would agree to quick extradition to his home country.

"[Swiss] authorities and Adamov's lawyers together determined to keep questioning details secret for as long as related debates go on. We shall not provide whatever information to the media before we clear up all aspects of the affair, and make all practical steps we need," explained Wehrenberg.

Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice also refused to offer whatever comments on the questioning-in its turn, to refer to an understanding with the suspect's lawyers.

An official Russian application for Adamov's extradition reached Switzerland, May 17. It based on an arrest warrant Moscow's Basmanny district court issued, May 14, after the federal Prosecutor General's office launched criminal proceedings against him on suspected fraud and excess of powers.

Adamov was holding Russia's Nuclear Energy portfolio, 1998 into 2001. He was detained in Bern, May 2, on an application from the US Department of Justice, and the circuit court of the West Pennsylvania District warranted his arrest quite soon. Meanwhile, Adamov, 66, remains in custody in Bern.

Switzerland applied to the USA, May 2, for an extradition warrant, whose drawing procedure usually takes forty to sixty days -- which implies June 30 for deadline. When the warrant comes, Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice will have to decide which of the extradition warrants shall be entitled to priority.

US judicial authorities suspect Yevgeny Adamov and Mark Kaushansky, his business partner and US national, of embezzling a nine million dollar grant the US Administration made Russia to build up its nuclear project safety.

Adamov is facing imprisonment for up to sixty years, and a $1.75 million fine on the US law.

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