A Russian diplomat jailed in the United States in a case linked to the Iraqi oil-for-food program has been transferred home to serve out his sentence, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
A U.S. court last year sentenced Vladimir Kuznetsov to four years in prison for helping launder over $300,000 in bribes from firms seeking contracts with the United Nations. He once chaired a U.N. budget committee.
Russia's Foreign Ministry praised the decision to transfer him home, a rare positive note in relations between Moscow and Washington which have been strained over Russia's war in Georgia and U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Europe.
"We are satisfied that this has turned out successfully," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its Internet site www.mid.ru.
"This was helped in large part by the close cooperation established between the Ministries of Justice of Russia and the United States, and also the assistance of the U.S. foreign affairs department."
It said Kuznetsov was handed over to Russian officials in New York on Tuesday and is now being held in temporary police detention in Russia before a decision is taken on where he serves the remaining three years of his sentence.
At the time of Kuznetsov's conviction, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed its disappointment and the case attracted intense media coverage in Russia, with some commentators saying the charges were fabricated for political reasons.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said that he hopes for better relations with the United States once President-elect Barack Obama replaces President George W. Bush in the White House.
(Reporting by Conor Sweeney; Editing by Charles Dick)
Source: Reuters
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