The Russian Foreign Ministry has described the actions of Maldivian authorities as “outraging” after the US secret service apprehended Russian citizen Roman Seleznyov at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport on Saturday (July 5).
The US Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that Seleznyov was arrested after having been indicted for hacking into point of sale systems at retailers throughout the United States between October 2009 and February 2011.
As well as accusing the US of kidnapping Seleznyov – the son of Russian MP Valery Seleznyov, Russian diplomats have been quoted as condemning the role of the Maldives.
“The stance of Maldives’ authorities cannot be but outraging, since despite the existing international legislation norms they allowed another country’s special service to kidnap a Russian citizen and take him out of the country,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“We demand that the Maldives’ government provides necessary explanations,” officials told Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.
Russian diplomats also said that the US had confirmed Seleznyov had been put on a private jet by US officials and taken to the US Pacific Ocean territory of Guam.
Seleznyov’s father told ITAR-TASS today that any charges should have been brought through the Maldives’ courts.
“At present, it is the same for me whether Roman Seleznyov is guilty or not. But if American authorities had real evidence of his implication in the crime, they should have brought some charges through the Maldives’ court,” said the MP.
“No one had the right to take him anywhere without the sanction issued by the Maldives’ court. And here many questions to law enforcement agencies of the Maldives arise,” Valery Seleznyov was quoted as saying.
The US government has described the detainee as “one of the world’s most prolific traffickers of stolen information”, noting that the arrest “reflects the hard work by the U.S. Secret Service and our interagency and international partners”
The statement from the Department of Homeland Security did not reveal details of Seleznyov’s arrest, with no mention made of the Maldives.
“This important arrest sends a clear message: despite the increasingly borderless nature of transitional organized crime, the long arm of justice – and this Department – will continue to disrupt and dismantle sophisticated criminal organizations,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.
Speaking during a celebration to mark US independence day earlier this week, Maldives Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon pledged continued assistance to the US in suppressing terrorism, organised crimes, drug trafficking, and other security issues.
Dunya also thanked the US for previous assistance in these areas.
The US granted Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System – or PISCES – came into use in the Maldives last year after a deal with Malaysian IT firm Nexbis was terminated.
The system – cited by local media as flagging the arrival of Seleznyov in the country – was criticised by the outgoing Malaysian firm as being no more than a “terrorist tracking system”.
Minivan News was unable to obtain comment from immigration or police officials at the time of publication.
(0)Dislikes
(0)Related Posts
Seleznyov’s Guam hearing delayed as defence claims Maldives’ arrest was illegal- Comment: Maldives caught in Russo – American tiff
- Seleznyov ‘expelled’ on Interpol red notice, says Home Ministry
- “Help me gain my freedom”: ex-immigration chief’s passport held in stalled corruption charge
- First batch of Faaragema dogs arrive in Maldives
- PG travels to Russia for extradition deal
Taking a particular side for a small country like Maldives will not bode well.
So Maldives should now be on the State Dept 'Good Boy' list..
But this may not be worth much. WIth the bad US economy, Maldives would still end up going to China, even Russia.
Probably we will take the US side even if the Zionist Israelis keeps bombing Gaza, and if we have to condemn it.
I am of Maldives islands and have to say U.S is the biggest bully in the entire world and maldives is like small victim. Its hard to do the right thing when agressors like U.S demand something. U.S government is evil and corrrupt!
It now appears that the worlds citizens are not safe with USA who arrest anyone on trumped up charges. If this is correct, how many US citizens should be arrested when they are overseas by other countries. Even a country like France has got tired of USA after one of their banks were fined by USA for USD9 Billion. Then a US spy is caught in Germany. As I can see the dominance of USD will vanish in the next five years with Europe, China, India, Russia, Africa and most Middle East countries working on a mix of currencies for trading without the USD. As one can see every moth USA print 85 Billion worth of dollars on cellulose. Then the world uses it. In the next 5 years Dollar will become nothing and with that USA will become a third world nation because without printed paper dominance they have no other economy. You will note soon the DOW and NASDAQ will start to fall, a free fall and no one will be able to stop that including the White House.
This is outragious. We are being lead into subjugation to the US by the government. Not a pretty path for such a small and easy-to-influence country like ourselves to be on.
This is the dumbest thing any government of any nation could have done. Get in between the affairs of 2 super powers.
This amount of stupidity is inexcusable, those nuts at immigration and whichever idiot gave the order has really screwed this country
This had to be a pre planned operation requiring the full cooperation of The Maldives, set in motion as soon as the PISCES system (helpfully installed by the USA) registered the arrival of this man on holiday.
There is no way a rendition team plus aircraft just appeared at the airport on the day he was due to depart. Presumably kidnapped after getting his exit stamp at immigration, so technically no longer in The Maldives. No wonder the world hates the USA.
I am Maldivian. I note we have good diplomatic and economic relations with Russia . Many tourists come from Russia therefore Russia should be treated well by our Government.
We should not be allowed to be bullied by USA.
If it was a Chinese national Maldives dared not have done this! Russia is not important to us it seems.
I wonder where those takaatakaa baigandu whining about "Infidels ruling Maldives" are now.
Yeah, Russia. Maldivians gone done it now. They'll definitely take revenge. Just look at Ukraine.
Prepare for the influx of Russian sock puppets.
All what we are seen is media propagandas ? Who knows what had really inspired there ?
Who's know if the person was real criminal ? We don't know ether the person in question was innocent or not ?
Apparently Interpol had issued red notice against him some time back ?
What if Russians bring out a midnight verdict from Maldives Supreme court - remember Taniya.
Government in Maldives is not going to be democratic - it's autocratic and hypocritical. What benefit does it bring to the people from slavery of the worst violator of Human Rights in the world? It is true that being a small state Maldives could be in the receiving end while dealing with Big Brothers. However, diplomacy and politics is all about safeguarding the dignity of a nation. Isn't it?
The case is attracting attention and is fishy because Roman is a son of a Russian law maker.
If indeed the person was a criminal and a danger to society it would be a just apprehension. If US is acting on false charges on some political agenda, Maldivian authorities should have asked for hard evidence.
These kinds of false allegations and exercising the long arm of the law is a form of terrorism as well. Institutionalized Terrorism.
Tanya is an asset. She agreed to testify against Ali Hameed. She is not to be harmed. Place two teams of black operation squads to make sure the golha gang doesn't try to silence her.
I am from Vancouver,canada and I wanted to say that the Maldivan gov.is a lackey of the USA.The usa is trying to get control of all the countries surrounding Russia.That is bad for the people of these countries.
Its important that people continue to support the people of Donetsk and other regions of eastern Ukraine in their fight for autonomy.NATO,EU and the govs. of Canada and the usa are the enemys of the people of eastern Ukraine and should be condemned.