MOSCOW, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday deplored a Greek court decision to extradite Alexander Vinnik, a Russian citizen suspected of money laundering, to the United States.
The ministry said in a statement that Russia's request to extradite Vinnik to his home country took precedence over others and the Greek verdict is unjust and against basic provisions of international law.
The statement urged Greek authorities to consider Russia's request and arguments.
Russian Foreign Ministry said Vinnik's lawyers will appeal the verdict in the Greek Supreme Court.
According to media reports, Vinnik, 38, is charged by U.S. authorities with masterminding an operation of laundering at least 4 billion U.S. dollars using bitcoin digital currency.
He was arrested in Greece in late July with U.S. assistance.
In September, a Moscow court found Vinnik guilty of large scale fraud and issued a writ against him. Russian Prosecutor General's Office then sent to Greek authorities a request to extradite him to Russia.
