Lithuania to decide on Antonov’s extradition to Latvia after domestic legal process concludes

Lithuania’s prosecutor general, Nida Grunskienė, confirmed on Tuesday that Latvia has formally requested the extradition of Vladimir Antonov, a former co-owner of the collapsed Latvian bank Latvijas Krajbanka and one of the leaders of the bankrupt Lithuanian bank Snoras, according to LRT.

Grunskienė stated that authorities received the request last week but will only rule on the matter once all ongoing legal proceedings in Lithuania are finalised. “Yes, the request was received last week. It is currently under review, but a decision on this issue will only be possible after all processes are completed,” she told reporters.

Antonov was transported to Lithuania by plane in late May and handed over to convoy officers, who delivered him to a detention facility at the Vilnius County Chief Police Commissariat. His transfer followed a May 13 ruling by France’s Court of Cassation, which upheld a lower court’s decision to extradite him to Lithuania. He had been detained in the French town of Baden since December.

The Vilnius Regional Court convicted Antonov in absentia last November, sentencing him to over 10 years in prison for multiple financial crimes linked to the collapse of Snoras. His defence team has appealed the verdict, with the first hearing in the appellate case scheduled for June 29. Four appeals have been filed in total, two of which involve Antonov and fellow former Snoras executive Raimondas Baranauskas.

Antonov’s legal team is seeking an acquittal, while Baranauskas’s lawyer has requested the overturning of his conviction. Both men were found guilty of embezzling over €509 million in bank assets, fraudulent accounting, abuse of office, and document forgery. The court also ordered the confiscation of €105 million from them for state recovery. Antonov, a Russian citizen, had been a fugitive since 2011, while Baranauskas was granted refugee status in Russia.

The Snoras bankruptcy case dates back to November 16, 2011, when Lithuanian authorities initiated in absentia proceedings after the former executives fled the country. The bank’s collapse led to one of Lithuania’s largest financial fraud investigations.