Ukraine has asked Serbia to extradite the former head of the SSU department Andriy Naumov

Ukraine has sent a request to Serbia for the extradition of Andriy Naumov, the former head of the Main Directorate of Internal Security of the SSU, who left Ukraine before the Russian invasion and was detained in Serbia on June 7.

The Serbian service of the BBC writes about this.

On October 19, the court of the city of Nis considered the issue of extradition. Naumovʼs lawyer Tanya Savych said that at the first meeting the court did not announce the grounds for extradition and did not provide her client with an interpreter, so the meeting was postponed.

She says that she does not know on what grounds Naumov should be returned to Ukraine — because of a general crime or a case of high treason, which is being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation.

Naumov himself says that he faces a death sentence in Ukraine, as he has already been assassinated.

• Andrii Naumov appeared in a number of journalistic investigations about contraband imports, corruption schemes at customs and elite property. In addition, in 2021, an attempt on Naumov was being prepared, for which the former first deputy head of the SSU, Dmytro Neskoromny, was announced as suspected of organizing the murder. Already this year, during the war, the surname Naumov appeared in the case of the ex-head of the SSU in Crimea Kulinich, who was recruited by the Russian FSB.
• The State Bureau of Investigation has been investigating Naumov for possible treason since March 13. He could collect and transfer secret data to the Russian special services, in particular regarding the security systems of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.
• Law enforcement sources told Babel that Naumov could receive asylum in Russia in exchange for participating in the "tribunal" against President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Insider publication also confirms information about a possible temporary move to Russia.