UK Systematically Ignores Russia's Requests for Legal Assistance, Moscow Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United Kingdom has responded to only three out of nearly three dozen Russian requests for legal assistance since last year, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs told Sputnik on 24 September.

Over the last year and the first half of this year, the UK received 29 legal aid requests, of which one — to extradite a criminal defendant — was denied, the ministry said.

"This fact indicates the development of a tendency where the competent authorities of this state [the UK] ignore their obligations to fulfill the requests of the Russian side, which prevents the identification of significant circumstances of crimes committed and hinders the adoption of lawful decisions in criminal cases", the ministry said.

According to the official statistics on the extradition of criminal defendants from all countries for the last 18 months, 44 people wanted in criminal cases in proceedings by the Russian Interior Ministry were extradited.

The ministry noted that such a tendency to refuse to cooperate had always been a common practice for London.

The most active in providing international legal assistance, including the extradition of accused criminals, are the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the ministry added.