Israel approves extradition of suspected hacker to US

Israel approved the extradition of a suspected hacker to the U.S. Sunday to face allegations of cyber crimes, NBC News reported. 

The Israeli Supreme Court authorized the extradition of Russian citizen Alexei Burkove, who was arrested in an Israeli airport in 2015. 

{mosads}It also refused to grant his ask to be moved to Russia and serve any sentence there.

“This is because it is not based on any cause of law which requires the State of Israel to do so,” the court said, according to NBC News.

The case is being watched closely in Israel after an Israeli woman was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in a Russian penal colony after police found nine grams of cannabis in her luggage at the Moscow Airport.

The sentence of the Israeli woman, Nama Issachar, is widely seen as linked to the Burkove case. Russia had pressed Israel to not extradite Burkove to the United States. 

Asked last week if Russia was using Issachar as a bargaining tool, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the case.

Russia and the U.S. have repeatedly clashed on the U.S. policy of extradition.