Speaking at an annual Kremlin live televised news conference with Russian and foreign journalists, Putin said: "It is well known who are the ones trying to damage Russia's image. They are people who are hiding from Russian law for crimes committed in the Russian Federation, primarily in the economic sector. They are the so-called fugitive oligarchs, who hide either in Western Europe or in the Middle East."
One of the well-known fugitive oligarchs whom Russia is actively seeking to extradite is Boris Berezovsky.
Russian prosecutors opened a criminal case against Berezovsky, 60, after he told a radio station in January 2006 that he was planning to topple President Vladimir Putin. He fled to the U.K. in 2000 to escape fraud charges and was granted political refugee status there.
The U.K. is also home to more than a dozen suspects wanted in Russia in connection with economic crimes, including individuals involved in the long-running case involving the bankrupt oil company Yukos.
