Russia Demands Ukraine Hand over Head of Security Service, Others

Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and workers remove debris inside the burnt-out Crocus City Hall following a deadly attack on the concert venue outside Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released March 26, 2024. (Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and workers remove debris inside the burnt-out Crocus City Hall following a deadly attack on the concert venue outside Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released March 26, 2024. (Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
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Russia Demands Ukraine Hand over Head of Security Service, Others

Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and workers remove debris inside the burnt-out Crocus City Hall following a deadly attack on the concert venue outside Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released March 26, 2024. (Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and workers remove debris inside the burnt-out Crocus City Hall following a deadly attack on the concert venue outside Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released March 26, 2024. (Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)

Russia is demanding that Ukraine hand over all people connected with terrorist acts committed in Russia, including the head of the country's SBU Security Service, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

A ministry statement listed violent incidents that have occurred in Russia since the Kremlin's forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, including bombings that killed the daughter of a prominent nationalist and a war blogger, and another incident in which a writer was seriously hurt.

It said investigation of these incidents showed that "the traces of these crimes lead to Ukraine."

"Russia has turned over to Ukrainian authorities its demands ... for the immediate arrest and extradition of all those connected to the terrorist acts in question," the statement said.

The ministry statement said those to be handed over included SBU head Vasyl Maliuk, who has acknowledged his service was behind attacks on the bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland since the Kremlin's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russia seized control of Crimea in 2014; the bridge was built after the region was annexed.

"The Russian side demands that the Kyiv regime immediately cease all support for terrorist activity, extradite guilty parties and compensate the victims for damages," it said.

"Ukraine's violation of its obligations under anti-terrorist conventions will result in it being held to account in international legal terms."

The statement referred to the mass shooting this month at a concert hall outside Moscow in which 144 people died, but only in an oblique sense.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, and US officials said they had intelligence showing it was carried out by the network's Afghan branch, ISIS Khorasan, or ISIS-K.

Russian investigators said last week they had found proof that the concert hall gunmen were linked to "Ukrainian nationalists". Kyiv denies any connection with the attack.

Russian news agencies on Sunday quoted Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, the country's most important criminal investigation body, as saying that work was proceeding to determine who was behind the attack. 



Netanyahu Says to Visit Hungary Despite War Crimes Warrant

A portrait of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hangs on the sidewalk during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in the coastal city of Tel Aviv on March 29, 2025. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
A portrait of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hangs on the sidewalk during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in the coastal city of Tel Aviv on March 29, 2025. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
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Netanyahu Says to Visit Hungary Despite War Crimes Warrant

A portrait of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hangs on the sidewalk during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in the coastal city of Tel Aviv on March 29, 2025. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
A portrait of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hangs on the sidewalk during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in the coastal city of Tel Aviv on March 29, 2025. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Hungary on April 2, his office said on Sunday, defying an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

During his visit, Netanyahu is set to hold talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and other senior Hungarian officials before returning to Israel on April 6, AFP reported.

Orban extended an invitation to Netanyahu despite the ICC's arrest warrant issued last year.

One day after the ICC decision in November, Netanyahu thanked Orban for his show of "moral clarity" in extending the invitation.

Netanyahu's office at the time published what it said was a letter from Orban in which the Hungarian premier denounced the ICC decision as a "shameful" move.

The ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes -- including starvation as a method of warfare -- in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.