NEW YORK, April 14 (RIA Novosti) - Though the majority of US officials banned from Russia in response to the US blacklist published on Friday are linked high-profile cases against Russians in the United States, the judge who sentenced Russian national Viktor Bout to 25 years in prison for arms trafficking was not included in the list.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the Russian list of 18 names includes “those involved in the abduction and removal to other countries of Russian citizens and in threats to their lives and health.”
Many officials on the list were related to cases of Konstantin Yaroshenko and Viktor Bout, two Russian nationals who committed no crimes on the US territory, but were arrested in third states and extradited to the US.
The list includes US district judge Jed Rakoff, who presided over the case of Yaroshenko, a Russian ex-pilot who was arrested in Liberia in an undercover operation and convicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges. Rakoff sentenced Yaroshenko to 20 years in prison following a guilty verdict by the jury.
However, Judge Shira Scheindlin who sentenced Bout to 25 years in prison when the jury found him guilty on arms smuggling charges, was not included into the list.
Among other officials on Russia’s list is Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who oversaw the extradition and trials of the two Russians, as well as six employees of his office.
