Georgian police at Tbilisi International Airport detained a Russian national who faces criminal charges in the United States, defense attorney Beka Nemsitsveridze told the Georgian broadcaster TV Pirveli.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry confirmed the arrest. The U.S. case involves several charges, including money laundering and aiding and abetting criminal activity, and is tied to the supply of export-controlled aviation spare parts, Nemsitsveridze said.
The detained woman is Tatyana Kurashkevich — an entrepreneur, a postgraduate student at the Diplomatic Academy of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), and an expert in international trade — according to Russian Human Rights Council member Eva Merkacheva.
Merkacheva said: “I’m reading over the charges against her. (Her husband provided the documents.) Several counts, all economic — sanctions evasion, and so on. The charges carry potential sentences of 20 years on each of three counts and 10 years on a fourth. A total of 70 years. […] Her extradition (which the U.S. is insisting on) would be a violation of international law. I’d like to believe Georgia won’t do it. We are preparing a formal petition.”
Kurashkevich traveled to Georgia as a tourist and only learned of the U.S. criminal case at Tbilisi’s airport, Nemsitsveridze said.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said extradition proceedings to the United States are now underway. A Tbilisi court remanded Kurashkevich in custody, according to Merkacheva.
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