By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 29, 2005; 2:48 PM
MOSCOW, Dec. 29 --Switzerland's highest court announced Thursday that Russia's former nuclear energy minister, held in a Swiss jail and facing charges from both the United States and Russia, will be sent to Russia for trial.
The decision reverses a decision by the country's Justice Ministry to transfer Yevgeny Adamov, 66, to the United States, where he has been charged with conspiracy to transfer stolen money and securities, conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering and tax evasion.
U.S. prosecutors contend that Adamov, a nuclear physicist, embezzled at least $9 million in U.S. government funds earmarked for the protection of Russia's nuclear facilities. The funds were allegedly diverted to private accounts, including in Pennsylvania, which were used to finance business projects in the United States, Ukraine and Russia.
The alleged fraud took place in the 1990s when he was head of a nuclear research institute that received American funding. He later became a minister in the government of then president Boris Yeltsin, overseeing military and civilian nuclear programs.
Adamov, who was dismissed by President Vladimir Putin in 2001, has said he put the money in private accounts to protect the funds from hyperinflation. He denies all the charges.
"Dr. Adamov is ready to come to the United States to fight these charges and he wants to clear his name both in Russia and the U.S.," said Lanny Breuer, Adamov's Washington, D.C.-based American attorney, who said his client tried to negotiate coming to the U.S. to defend himself but as a free man. "He's a great Russian patriot and has not stolen a penny."
Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said in a statement that her office, which issued the U.S. indictment, was "disappointed" by the Swiss ruling. "We acknowledge the Russian government's representations to the Swiss Court that it will prosecute Mr. Adamov upon his return to Russia, and we intend to honor any requests for cooperation from Russian prosecutors," she said.
An American business partner of Adamov's, Mark Kaushansky, has also been charged in the case. Kaushansky, a former Soviet citizen, moved to the United States in 1979, where he worked as a nuclear power plant engineer. He pleaded not guilty in May and is free on a $100,000 bond.
Adamov was arrested when he went to Switzerland to visit his daughter. Almost immediately after his arrest, Russian authorities charged him with separate crimes of fraud and abuse of office and sought to have him returned home rather than to the United States. Adamov agreed to be extradited to his homeland.
Some Russian officials feared that U.S. authorities could pump Adamov for information on Russia's nuclear programs and its nuclear cooperation with countries such as Iran.
Adamov himself fueled those fears. "If I spend at least a night in a U.S. jail, there will be problems with state secrets," Adamov said in a telephone interview this with Echo Moskvy radio earlier this year.
The Swiss Justice Ministry, explaining its decision, said that if Adamov were returned to Russia, he could not subsequently be extradited to the United States because he is a Russian citizen. But if he is extradited to the United States first, he could be sent to Russia later for prosecution.
Adamov appealed that decision. A five-judge panel of the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne rejected the ministry's reasoning in a ruling made on Dec. 22, but released Thursday.
"With the extradition to Russia, it can be guaranteed that the crimes under investigation will be examined for overall judgment in the country primarily affected," a court statement state. The decision cannot be appealed by the United States.
The court also noted that the Russians filed their extradition request before the official U.S. request reached Switzerland almost two months after the arrest warrant was acted on.
The Russian charges relate to Adamov's period in public office, when he is accused of stealing $17 million in state funds. Russian prosecutors gave written guarantees to the Swiss authorities that they will also investigate the U.S. charges , according to the court ruling.
"We are satisfied with the decision of the federal court of Switzerland," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.