WASHINGTON - US authorities arrested former Kremlin property manager Pavel Borodin solely on a request from Switzerland which is seeking his prosecution on money laundering charges, a State Department official said Thursday."Mr. Borodin was arrested in response to a request from the Swiss government," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Borodin, a confidant of former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, was arrested by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation late Wednesday as he arrived in the United States at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The arrest of Borodin, who was traveling to attend Saturday's inauguration of US President-elect George W. Bush, prompted an official protest from the Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who demanded Borodin's immediate release.
The State Department official said Washington was aware of news reports about Ivanov's protest but had not yet received it and referred all other questions about the case to the Department of Justice which oversees the FBI and will handle Borodin's extradition proceedings.
Switzerland launched an international search request for Borodin in January 2000 after an arrest warrant was issued by Geneva authorities in connection with an inquiry into two Swiss-based construction firms.
Swiss federal police spokesman Folco Galli said Bern would be asking Washington for a speedy extradition.
"We have a period of 40 to 60 days to proceed and we are going to ask for the extradition," he said.
Borodin has been under investigation for having allegedly taken at least 25 million dollars (27 million euros) in kickbacks for awarding lucrative construction contracts, including the renovation of the Kremlin.
In December, Russia's top prosecutor formally closed an investigation into the Kremlin scandal linked to two Swiss construction firms that won the contracts -- Mabetex and Mercata Trading.
Borodin's lawyer in Geneva, Dominique Poncet, said the situation was not a common one, pointing out that money laundering can only exist when a crime has been previously committed.
The Russians do not have any charges against him, Poncet said.
He said Borodin's defence was being organised in the US.
Borodin's lawyer in Moscow Pavel Kuznetsov said earlier that Borodin's arrest was absolutely illegal and could lead to a "major international and diplomatic scandal."
Borodin, 54, now holds a largely ceremonial post as chairman of an informal Russia-Belarus union. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko denounced the arrest as an insult to both Moscow and Minsk.
"The United States of America is responsible for this diplomatic scandal," Lukashenko said in a nationally televised address.
Once viewed as one of the most powerful people in the Kremlin, Borodin was one of the first officials removed from the Kremlin by President Vladimir Putin last July.