MOSCOW: Russia’s foreign ministry on Friday summoned the Thai ambassador to complain about the treatment of a Russian arms dealer facing extradition to the United States from Bangkok for gun running.

In a statement, the ministry said it had complained to the envoy of “abuses of the rights of Russian citizen Viktor Bout, under arrest in Thailand at the request of the United States.” Alleged to have funnelled arms to some of the world’s most violent conflicts, Viktor Bout was shown on Russian television on Thursday appealing to Moscow to help free him from a Thai prison.

He said he was being held unlawfully in Thailand on “fabricated American accusations.” “It was underlined that the Russian side intends to ensure strict observance of the relevant Thai legislation and norms of international law in relation to Viktor Bout,” the foreign ministry statement said.

Bout was arrested on March 6 in Bangkok in a sting operation organised by US anti-drug agents, suspected of procuring assets for terrorists.

On Wednesday Thailand’s police dropped charges against him, paving the way for his extradition.

A former Soviet air force officer, Bout is believed to have supplied arms to the Taliban militia, Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terror network, rebels in South America and former Liberian leader Charles Taylor.

The United States wants to prosecute him on charges of conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to Marxist FARC rebels in Colombia. —AFP