The Russian Ministry of Justice has prepared an extradition request for pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was sentenced in the United States to 20 years in prison on charges of attempting to smuggle a large consignment of drugs.

The request, according to the Ministry of Justice, was submitted to the Russian Foreign Ministry for sending "through diplomatic channels to the competent authorities of the United States of America."

The Ministry of Justice said in a statement that the request was filed under the 1983 Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons to the Country of Citizenship.

At the end of September 2016, Yaroshenko's lawyer announced that his client had signed an agreement to extradite Russia to Russia under the convention on the transfer of convicts. The use of the Strasbourg Convention, according to the lawyer, is the last real opportunity for Yaroshenko to return to his homeland before the expiration of his prison sentence in the United States.
Since the entry into force of the Strasbourg Convention, according to lawyer Yaroshenko, the United States has extradited a convict to Russia only once. It was a UN employee Vladimir Kuznetsov, who was sentenced in the United States to 4 years for money laundering. Kuznetsov returned to Russia in 2008.
Konstantin Yaroshenko was detained in Liberia in May 2010 on suspicion of trying to smuggle a large consignment of cocaine into the United States. In September 2011, an American court sentenced Yaroshenko to 20 years in prison. The Russian categorically denies his guilt. The Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that they will take all necessary measures to release Yaroshenko.

The Ministry of Justice has prepared a request to the United States for the extradition of pilot Yaroshenko