Democrats call for Trump to extradite Russians

WASHINGTON — Top Democratic leaders in the House and Senate implored President Donald Trump on Monday to employ ‘‘all resources available’’ to extradite 13 Russians charged last month with subverting the 2016 presidential election after Russia’s president raised the possibility of Jewish involvement.

‘‘Ensuring these Russian nationals stand trial in the United States is imperative for deterring Russia from future attacks on our democracy and would be a signal to those who seek to meddle with our election that such actions are not without consequences,’’ Sen. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in his chamber, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi,the top Democrat in the House, wrote in a letter to the White House.

Jewish groups in the United States and some Israeli politicians also joined in an uproar over comments by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in which he appeared to suggest that Jews might have been behind the hacking attack on the 2016 election in the United States.

In an interview broadcast on NBC News over the weekend, Putin was asked about the 13 Russian citizens charged by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, looking into the election interference. The question prompted a long, meandering response from Putin.

‘‘Maybe they are not even Russians,’’ Putin mused, ‘‘but Ukrainians, Tatars or Jews, but with Russian citizenship, which should also be checked. Maybe they have dual citizenship or a green card. Maybe the U.S. paid them for this. How can you know that? I do not know either.’’

Nachman Shai, an Israeli legislator, called the Russian leader’s remarks a classic example of anti-Semitism. ‘‘His comments show that nothing has changed in viewing the Jews as responsible for all the world’s evil,’’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘‘This demands a strong reaction from the government of Israel.’’

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the No. 2 Democrat in the House, said Putin’s comment ‘‘speaks to anti-Semitic tropes that have spurred intolerance and ethnic violence for centuries, and it is disturbing that this type of anti-Semitism has seen a recent resurgence among populist, far-right leaders around the world. That President Trump has failed to condemn Putin’s statement, just as he equivocated on Charlottesville, undermines America’s moral responsibility to combat the kind of racism and anti-Semitism perniciously re-emerging today.’’

The Democratic letter outlines several steps that the Justice and State departments could take to try to force their extradition, such as pressing Interpol to issue what is effectively an international arrest warrant and using existing diplomatic channels, including raising the issue directly with Putin.