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Russia’s Diplomat Ready to Go to Prison
Accused of laundering conspiracy in the United States, Russia’s diplomat is willing to go to prison even if his lawyers appeal after the verdict, RIA Novosti reported.
Russia’s diplomat Vladimir Kuznetsov, who is charged in the United States with laundering conspiracy, is willing to go to prison even if his lawyers appeal after the verdict, which announcement is slated for September 4.
“I won’t request lawyers to raise an issue of house arrest if the appeal is lodged. I have no money to pay for the rent and household services, almost two years have passed since my arrest. The last resort is to go to prison for the account of a U.S. taxpayer,” Kuznetsov explained.
The lawyers are studying the appeal option, as “all legal path hasn’t been traversed for this case,” Kuznetsov pointed out.
According to Kuznetsov, he was the diplomat of Russia, not the UN official when arrested by the FBI agents. “I have never been a bureaucrat except the start of my career nearly 30 years ago, when I was an interpreter in the UN Secretariat. All other years, roughly 25, I dedicated to working for Russia’s Foreign Ministry. For five years of them, I worked as an expert in the elected auxiliary body of the UN General Assembly, the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,” Kuznetsov said.
Vladimir Kuznetsov, who is under the home arrest in the rented flat in New York, is controlled by an electronic pickup fixed to his leg. FBI detained the diplomat in New York on September 1, 2005. Prosecutors charged him with borrowing $300,000 from his friend Vladimir Yakovlev, also the UN official, though he allegedly knew about the criminal origin of the funds.
Kuznetsov denies the guilt; no award has been passed for Yakovlev yet. But Yakovlev clinched a deal with detectives, called Kuznetsov his accomplice and was released after it. U.S. jurors found Kuznetsov guilty of laundering conspiracy in March of this year.
www.kommersant.com
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