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Russian Murder Suspect Deported from U.S. After 17 Years

U.S. authorities have deported a Russian murder suspect 17 years after he was placed on Interpol’s wanted list, an Interior Ministry spokesperson announced Tuesday.

Interpol labeled 47-year-old Gennady Gavrilets as an internationally wanted person in December 1998 at the request of the Russian Interior Ministry, the TASS news agency reported.

“Russian citizen Gennady Gavrilets, who is currently wanted on suspicion of instigating a murder, was deported today. The decision of U.S. law enforcement to deport him was made thanks to efforts of Interpol and the Russian Interior Ministry, despite the lack of an extradition agreement between our countries,” the spokesperson said.

Gavrilets is wanted in connection to the murder of Anatoly Sirichenko, president of the Russian-American company Unitrans in April 1997. Gavrilets, a former Unitrans co-owner, is alleged to have ordered his business partner's murder after Sirichenko took control of the whole company. Gavrilets offered $15,000 for the murder to be carried out, the Kommersant newspaper reported in 1998.

U.S. immigration officers delivered Gavrilets to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport where he was arrested, TASS reported.

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