Russian citizen detained in Armenia at request of US
Sergey Mironov, suspected of the illegal transfer of technology and money laundering, was detained in Yerevan and is now in custody. The question of his extradition to the United States may be decided on August 29. This was reported to Russian news agencies by Mironov’s lawyer, Karen Nersisyan, on Saturday, August 27.
“My client, Sergey Mironov, was detained on August 26 together with his wife by the Armenian security service on his arrival from Moscow to Yerevan. The request for his detention was sent from the United States. At the moment he is in custody,” the lawyer said, as reported by Interfax. He noted that Mironov works as a programmer for a company related to the Russian Railways and Metropolitan, and has no access to any sensitive technologies.
According to RIA Novosti, with reference to Nersisyan, 30-year-old Sergey Mironov is the head of the video technology department at the Russian-Belarusian company and arrived in Armenia for a vacation. Mironov’s extradition to the United States will likely be decided by the court on August 29, the lawyer said. He also said that the US authorities accuse Mironov of money laundering in the amount of $50,000 and the “transfer of some technologies.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Chamber of Advocates of Armenia, Tsovinar Khachatryan, said to Interfax that the preliminary investigation has not yet sent a request to provide a defense lawyer to Mironov. According to her, if Nersisyan intends to represent the interests of Mironov in Armenia, he must apply to the Chamber to obtain accreditation.