MOSCOW, June 6 (RAPSI) – Russia has declined to extradite former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, the Prosecutor General’s Office’s spokesman Alexander Kurennoy told journalists on Monday.

The motion for provisional arrest and detention of Yanukovych filed by Ukraine has been considered and dismissed in accordance with Article 3 (Political offences) of the 1957 European Convention on Extradition, Kurennoy said. Ukrainian authorities have been informed about this decision, he added.

In early 2015, it was reported that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office brought charges against Yanukovych in absentia and addressed Russia with a request to extradite the former president. Yanukovych is suspected of organizing a criminal group, abuse of power, embezzling state property and other offenses. The Russian Minister of Justice then claimed he had not received any documents on extraditing Yanukovych to Kiev.

Viktor Yanukovych was elected president of Ukraine on February 25, 2010, for a five-year term. Following a coup on February 22, 2014, Yanukovych was forced to leave the country. The Ukrainian parliament impeached him, amended the Constitution and scheduled early presidential elections for May, when Petro Poroshenko was elected president. The new Kiev authorities launched criminal proceedings against several former officials.