A Russian native accused of committing racially and ideologically-motivated murders has been extradited to Moscow from Ukraine, where he had been evading law enforcement after being placed on an international wanted list.
Mikhail Volkov is believed to have been involved in an extremist criminal organization as well as in an ultranationalist armed group known as the Militant Organization of Russian Nationalists, known by its Russian acronym BORN.
"With these groups [Volkov] committed attacks on citizens and murders motivated by ideological and national hatred and enmity," Russia's Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement on their website Thursday.
Members of BORN have been implicated in more than a half-dozen killings, including the 2010 execution of Moscow City Court judge Eduard Chuvashov, known for his tough stance on crimes involving ultra-nationalists.
Investigators have also implicated the militant organization in a string of murders targeting Caucasian and Central Asian immigrants between 2008 and 2010.
Volkov will be tried on charges of racketeering, murdering two or more people as part of an organized hate group and trafficking illegal arms and explosive devices, the Prosecutor General's statement said. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
The defendant was arrested by Ukrainian special forces in on May 10, RIA Novosti reported. He appealed a Ukrainian court's July decision to extradite him back to Russia, but the verdict was upheld.
Given his previous evasion of law enforcement, the Basmanny District Court in Moscow has ordered that Volkov be kept in a pretrial detention center.
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