Prison (illustrative)
Prison (illustrative)iStock

The lawyer of Russian computer hacker Alexei Burkov, who has been held in Israel for nearly four years, says it would be right to extradite him to Russia.

Burkov could have been a bargaining chip for Naama Issachar, an Israeli sentenced to prison in Russia for marijuana possession, but it was already decided he would be extradited to the United States.

His attorney told Galei Tzahal radio, "The Russian application [for extradition] is full of more explanations of his actions than the US sent to Israel. If he goes to Russia he will be prosecuted."

Earlier on Tuesday, officials in Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office said that an official appeal will be sent during the day to Russian President Vladimir Putin to pardon Issachar.

On Sunday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin asked Putin to pardon Issachar, and Kremloin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the local RT network that Putin will consider granting the request.