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Baumgertner may be extradited to Russia, Lukashenka says

 

Vladislav Baumgertner, director general of Russian potash company Uralkali, may be extradited to Russia "for investigation," Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on Thursday, speaking during a government conference on economic and foreign-policy issues.

Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Aleksandr Zvyagintsev was present at the conference, according to the government's news agency BelTA.

"If Russian investigators are interested in the extradition of the detainee in question, I don't see any particular barriers here," Mr. Lukashenka said. "We're absolutely not holding on to him, if they deal with [the case] according to law. The damage on that side is immense, and it can be seen with the naked eye. Therefore, if this suddenly becomes necessary, we shouldn't get in the way. We should do everything for this conflict and whatever stands behind it to be probed together with Russians. And what stands behind it are certain high-ranking crooks in the Russian Federation and a multi-billion amount of money lost by Belarus and Russia."

Mr. Baumgertner was arrested on August 26 as he was about to fly out of Minsk after a meeting with Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich.

Pavel Travulka, spokesman for the Investigative Committee of Belarus, told BelaPAN after the arrest that Mr. Baumgertner, who chaired the supervisory board of Belarusian Potash Company (BPC), was suspected of power abuse and so were more Russian executives who combined their Uralkali jobs with high-ranking positions with BPC.

A few days later, Belarusian authorities instituted criminal proceedings against Russian billionaire and Uralkali's top shareholder Suleiman Kerimov.

The case is linked to Uralkali's July 30 decision to de facto quit BPC, its joint trading arm with Belarusian potash giant Belaruskali. Minsk claims that the collapse of the Belarusian-Russian potash sales cartel has caused severe economic damage to Belarus.

On September 16, Mr. Zvyagintsev announced that the Investigative Committee of Belarus would hand over the investigation of a criminal case against top executives with Uralkali to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. //BelaPAN