The US arrest of a top Russian official at the centre of an international corruption scandal has brought howls of protest from the Russian foreign ministry and the leader of neighbouring Belarus - and a conspicuous silence from President Vladimir Putin. Pavel Borodin, who headed the Kremlin property administration under former President Boris Yeltsin, was detained on a Swiss warrant at John F Kennedy airport in New York as he arrived in the United States on Wednesday. He was to attend George W Bush's inauguration.
"He was scheduled to appear in the US district court in Brooklyn, New York, later on Thursday," FBI spokesman Joe Valiquette said. In the meantime, Borodin met with the Russian counsel to New York and called his arrest a political provocation, the 'Itar-tass' news agency reported on Thursday. Borodin and other members of Yeltsin's inner circle have been accused of taking kickbacks from Mabetex and Mercata, two Swiss firms that were awarded fat contracts. Last year Russian prosecutors closed investigation into the case, saying Swiss authorities had failed to provide evidence against Borodin. Borodin and other Kremlin officials have denied wrong doing.
But Switzerland has kept the case open, and has had an international warrant out for Borodin's arrest on money- laundering charges for close to a year. Borodin is currently secretary of the Russia-Belarus union.
Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov called US ambassador James Collins in for a formal protest, demanding Borodin's Immediate and unconditional release. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko issued his own protest.
Bureau Report