Official team to visit Sri Lanka to clarify arrest of Russian national

President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has said that a team representing the government is preparing to depart to Sri Lanka, to visit the Russian Embassy in Sri Lanka to explain the recent arrest of Russian national Roman Seleznyov in the Maldives.

The President made this remark while speaking at a ceremony held at Muleeaage this evening, for Ihavandhoo MP Mohamed Abdulla (Muhamma) to join ruling party, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

Roman was arrested at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) on Saturday, 5 July 2014, and taken aboard a private plane to Guam, an ‘unincorporated territory of the US’ in the western Pacific Ocean, by US Secret Service agents.

President Yameen said that the team will include officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Attorney General’s Office.

He explained that the Russian national was arrested in order to comply with a ‘red notice’ issued by the International Criminal Police Organisation, Interpol, and appealed to Russia to not take any action against the Maldives, or reduce the number of tourists visiting the Maldives.

He said that the Maldivian government has always taken heed of Interpol red notices, and assured that the authorities followed procedures and precedents in their efforts to send the Russian national from the Maldives.