BUENOS AIRES, February 6 Probability of extradition of Russian Igor Churkin from Argentina to Ukraine is extremely small, the trial on this issue was automatically suspended due to the submitted request for political asylum, said the Russian's lawyer Christian Rubilar.
“»A request for political asylum paralyzes extradition until there is a firm decision (about asylum),» he said, adding that sometimes the process of obtaining asylum is quite long, it can take years.
«In addition, Igor requested Argentine citizenship because his daughter was born here. Argentine law gives him the right to trial in Argentina «And we pose (to the Argentine side — ed.) the question that a Russian citizen cannot be subject to a fair trial in Ukraine. He is being persecuted because he is Russian. This is a war of extraditions and sanctions,» he added.
According to Rubilar, extradition is also unlikely, since the crime he committed is not serious; in Argentina he would have received about a year in prison for it. In addition, the Ukrainian accusations are “very vague.” “It is unlikely that he will be extradited,” the lawyer said.
On January thirtieth, Argentine police detained Russian citizen Igor Churkin at the request of Kyiv, and a trial is expected on the issue of his possible extradition to Ukraine.