Comment by Mikhail_Edoshin
11 days ago
Couldn't it be merely a criminal claiming to be a political victim to avoid extradition? Never heard the name here at all, let alone in a political context.
I myself know from close hearsay a fellow who happily traded grain until 2022 when he left for US with $50m of a bank's money in his pocket. A few people in the bank lost their jobs as a result. Those people would certainly welcome that critic back.
I guess he could be, but Interpol themselves seems to disagree with that since they canceled the request after looking into it deeper:
> After Pestrikov had spent almost two years on the wanted list, the CCF ruled that his case was predominantly political. He showed us CCF documents that said the information Russia had provided was "generic and formulaic" and there had been an "inadequate explanation" of the alleged crime. Interpol cancelled the request for Pestrikov's detention.
As an oligarch who acquired a mining company on the cheap during the post soviet gangster 90s he doesnt exactly fit the profile of a beleagured peace activist.
The way that he is described by the BBC as a businessman (not an oligarch) also suggests that he was taken off the list for political reasons. London collects activist Russian oligarchs the same way Washington collects activist ex-Iranian monarchy.
Can't the CCF's decision be "predominantly political"?
That paragraph you quoted is "generic and formulaic" and is an "inadequate explanation".
Yes, you either put your trust with CCF, BBC and this man, or Russia, both sides could claim the same about the other. I don't have any experience with CCF, I do trust BBC, I don't trust that man, so in the end I trust that what BBC writes is closer to the truth.
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