MOSCOW, March 10 - RAPSI. Some Western countries fail to respond to international requests made by the Interior Ministry's investigative department as part of the criminal cases probed in Russia, the department deputy head Alexander Yagodin told RIA Novosti.

"In 2011, only the organized crime division sent 35 investigation requests to a variety of countries, but as little as 10 were fulfilled," Yagodin said.

According to him, the department "is still waiting for any response to its requests from Cyprus, Canada, France and the United Kingdom."

As a rule they face problems in dealing with the UK due to its legislative specifics.

For instance he referred to the criminal case of William Browder, head of the Hermitage Capital investment fund.

"It would have been logical to send materials for Browder's prosecution to his home country, but we run into a yet insurmountable problem - the British failure to ratify the convention on legal assistance in criminal cases," Yagodin said.

According to investigators, funds employees, including its auditor Sergey Magnitsky, stole 5.4 billion rubles ($182 million) from the state by manipulating tax returns.

In turn, Hermitage Capital maintained that Magnitsky uncovered the scheme used by corporate raiders and law enforcement officials to steal the taxes paid by the funds companies. Magnitskys prosecution is attributed to this theft.