MOSCOW, January 20 (RAPSI) – The U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday that three detainees, among them Russian national Ravil Mingazov, are to be transferred from Guantanamo Bay high security prison to the government of the United Arab Emirates.

According to DoD, the Periodic Review Board consisting of representatives of several departments and agencies vested with determining if detainees posed a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States reviewed Mingazov’s case yet on July 21, 2016, and recommended him for transfer having examined a number of factors, including security issues.

In the statement, the U.S. Department of Defense has expressed its gratitude to the UAE government “for its humanitarian gesture” and said it cooperated with UAE to ensure “these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures.”

Mingazov has been included in the final transfer to be completed during the administration of President Obama.

The Russian national was put in Guantanamo yet in 2002, but no charges have been filed against him to date. That year he was arrested in Pakistan and extradited to the USA. The American authorities allege that Mingazov had fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and had links to a terrorist group in Uzbekistan. However, the detainee has denied any wrongdoing. 

A delegation headed by Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's (MFA) Special Representative for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, could first visit Mingazov only in 2014. 

Although the Russian government has repeatedly requested Mingazov extradition to Russia, the U.S. authorities refused his transfer. 

The Department of Defense says in the statement that today 41 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.