During the war against Ukraine, Russia received 43 extradition refusals from Europe. Kommersant writes about this with reference to the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia.

At the same time, the department notes, in the first two months of 2022 there were only four such failures. The number of refusals that followed in March-May is already three times more than in the same period last year.

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, many countries explained their refusals with political motives. Among them are Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic. Germany alone accounted for 13 extradition refusals. However, in most cases, countries cited as reasons for refusal that extradition was contrary to their legal principles, or uncertainty about the rights of the requested persons.

At the end of March, a court in Naples released Ukrainian director Yevgeny Lavrenchuk, who was taken into custody in December 2021 at the request of Russia. The Russian authorities accused the director of fraud and sought his extradition. The court recognized the charges against Lavrenchuk as fabricated and concluded that the director was being prosecuted for political reasons.