MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it doubted lawfulness of Cyprus’ decision on Gazprom shares and expressed hope that this case would not be politicized.
"Moscow was surprised by the decision of Cyprus to stop cooperation with the Russian Prosecutor General's Office on a criminal case concerning operations with shares of Gazprom, [in a case where] one of the defendants is William Browder," the Ministry said.
The Ministry noted that "the Russian delegation has been refused admission to conduct investigative actions on this case on earlier-agreed terms."
"At the same time, the voiced reason [behind the move] was William Browder's appeal to the court with a demand to the authorities of Cyprus to stop cooperation with Russia on his case because it was tainted by political motivations," the Ministry explained.
The Ministry expressed hope that "the attempts to politicize the investigation of criminal cases will end and be replaced with an objective approach with a aim to conduct a conscientious investigation, identifying the perpetrators and bringing them to justice."
William Browder, a British millionaire, is an international financier and investor. In 1995-2007, Browder was the largest foreign investor in Russia.
In 2013, Russia sentenced Browder in absentia to nine years in prison for tax evasion. In February, the Moscow court authorized the arrest of Browder in absentia and established a period of detention for two months from the date of their transfer to Russian law enforcement in the event of extradition or deportation.
In July, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office appealed to US law enforcement agencies with a complaint about the illegal activity of the international investment group controlled by Browder, including the acquisition of 200 million shares of Gazprom, tax evasion and the deliberate bankruptcy of a number of companies.
