The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation

Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika has met today with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Sates to Russia William Burns.

During the meeting the counterparts noted that lately the importance of joint and co-ordinated actions of the states in combating crime, especially such as terrorism, organized crime, drug industry, human trafficking, laundering of proceeds of crime and crimes against intellectual property had considerably increased.

The present legal co-operation between the Russian Federation and United States is performed under the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters of 1999.

The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation highlighted recent positive changes in the relations with the American colleagues. At the same time, the parties pointed out that co-operation in extradition of persons for criminal prosecution should be intensified.

Yuri Chaika particularly noted “cooperation is a two way road” and information sharing should be mutually beneficial. The Russian Prosecutor General pointed out that in extradition issues there should be no double standards applied.

At present, due to the absence of the bilateral Treaty on Extradition certain individuals, having used this legal gap, avoid liability for the crimes committed. These individuals, first of all, are terrorists and other persons who have committed grave crimes including economic crimes.
Moreover, during the meeting the parties touched upon issues related to promotion of co-operation in investigation of particular criminal cases.

The parties unanimously agreed that their dialogue was useful and constructive and it would facilitate further bilateral co-operation in combating crime.

The participants of the meeting expressed hope that their exchange of opinions would serve as a good prologue to the solution of the mentioned issues.