Julian Assange supporters. File photoBEJING, Apr 22The extradition order to the United States of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was issued at the height of the conflict in Ukraine in order to reduce attention to him from the international community, as well as to intimidate other investigative journalists who may try to reveal the US role in the situation, the head of the analytical center told RIA Novosti Glory Diplomacy Van Gaigai. London's Westminster Magistrates' Court had previously issued an extradition order for Assange to the United States, where he faces 175 years in prison. The final decision on extradition must be made by Home Secretary Priti Patel. Assange's defense can submit their arguments until May 18. The analyst noted that, among other things, it should be analyzed why the British court issued a warrant for Assange's extradition right now. time to break the news (about Assange — ed.), which can minimize the impact of this issue on public opinion,» Wang Gaigai said. «/>The ex-judge of the ECHR called the sentence threatening Assange in the USA draconian. He noted that both in the UK and in the USA they know that Assange remains a hero in the hearts of many people around the world, and even in governments there are many people who sympathize with him, who at the same time are afraid public opinion.» After the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the entire Western world rallied against Russia, which temporarily overshadowed the contradictions and disagreements within Western countries. We know that American intelligence agencies are constantly monitoring their allies, and the governments of many countries do not really want Assange's extradition , because he still has a lot of compromising information about the US government,» the expert noted. According to him, again, the British side's unexpected statement about issuing an extradition warrant at that very moment could have been made at the direction of the United States, since the goal Washington is to keep others from imitating Assange and to prevent the publication of a large number of compromising The US has come to grips with providing weapons and intelligence to Ukraine, and sending mercenaries to Ukraine, and there must be a lot of ugly things to do here, and the US has already tarnished itself with various war crimes in the past. Now there are more and more signs that this conflict (in Ukraine — ed.) was originally a plan of the Biden government, before it began, the Biden administration tried, on the one hand, to stimulate Russia to send troops, but on the other hand, refused to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, «- he noted. Such an approach, Van Gaigai pointed out, seems contradictory, but in fact the US hopes that Russia will get bogged down in the quagmire of this conflict. «The US, fearing that insiders might reveal this plot, hastened to announce Assange's extradition in order to intimidate other journalists -investigators,» he added. He added that another reason for issuing an extradition order now is to avoid the release of any compromising information ahead of the US midterm elections later this year.
Ex-official of Ukraine: Russia could exchange captured British for AssangeAt the same time, he noted that the final decision on extradition should be made by the head of the British Ministry of Internal Affairs, “however, based on how things have developed so far, there is little hope for a turning point in the situation, and the British government will not change its original intention.» Journalist Julian Assange rose to prominence in 2006 in connection with his work on the website WikiLeaks, founded to publish classified documents. In 2010, the site released classified US military footage showing at least 18 civilians killed in the 2007 US helicopter attack in Baghdad. In 2010, the site also began publishing 250,000 US diplomatic documents. Assange, accused in Sweden in 2010 of sexual harassment and rape, has been hiding since June 2012 in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, fearing extradition. On the morning of April 11, 2019, he was detained at the request of the United States. Extradition hearings began on May 2, 2019. Shortly thereafter, US authorities announced that they had filed new charges against Assange for 17 counts of violations of the espionage and disclosure of classified information law. is politically motivated, the expert believes
