Putin will ‘never’ extradite citizens accused of meddling

Russia will “never” extradite any of the 13 Russians indicted by the United States for election meddling, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, even as he insisted they didn’t act on behalf of his government.

Putin’s comments in an NBC News interview airing Sunday illustrated the long odds that the Russian operatives will ever appear in U.S. court to answer charges of running a secret social media trolling and targeted messaging operation to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

The United States has no extradition treaty with Moscow and can’t compel it to hand over citizens.