Ukraine has asked Belgrade to extradite Andriy Naumov, former general and high-ranking official of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), who was arrested in Serbia on suspicion of money laundering, the BBC reported.

A spokesperson of the Higher Court in Serbia’s southern city of Nis city told BBC that this court is considering the case of Ukrainian citizen Andriy Naumov on the basis of a request for extradition to Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky stripped Naumov of his rank and declared him a traitor. Naumov left Ukraine just a few hours before Russia’s attack on February 24 this year, BBC reported.

Naumov came into Serbia from Hungary, and then continued on to Turkey. He was arrested on June 7 when attempting to enter into Serbia from North Macedonia when the police found him in possession of over 600,000 Euro, 125,000 US dollars and precious stones, the value of which is estimated at about 6,500 Euro.

Ukrainian investigative bodies said that Naumov has committed the crime of high treason, while his former SBU office said that he may have passed information to Russians on security systems at the Chernobyl plant.

Certain media reported that Russia is also interested in Naumov, and that, during an official visit to Moscow, Serbia’s Internal Affairs Minister Aleksandar Vulin discussed his extradition with Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the national Security Council.