Putin pledge to free Borodin

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to win the freedom of former Kremlin aide, Pavel Borodin, who is accused of money laundering, a parliamentary official has said.

According to Boris Grizlov, a leader of a pro-Putin "Unity" block in Parliament, Putin "assured us that he would do everything he could to free Borodin" during a meeting on Monday.

Swiss prosecutors accuse Borodin of accepting bribes from two Swiss construction firms in return for lucrative contracts.

Borodin, the former manager of Kremlin property under Russian President Boris Yeltsin, was arrested in New York on a Swiss warrant last week and remains in jail in the U.S.

He has denied any wrongdoing.

But Geneva prosecutor Bernard Bertossa inflicted a blow on Borodin's hopes for a quick release by rejecting a Russian suggestion that he withdraw the warrant if Borodin agreed to be questioned in a money-laundering inquiry.

"If there is no arrest warrant and no extradition request for Mr Borodin, then he is free to do as he wants. The Russian authorities have no legal means to force him to come to Geneva. For this reason we cannot accept the proposal," Bertossa said on Tuesday.

One of Borodin's lawyers said he and others were using every type of diplomatic and legal pressure to get Borodin freed at a court hearing due to be held on January 25.

He noted that the Russian Foreign Ministry and Russian ambassador in the United States had become involved.

"In general, pressure is being applied on all fronts and we hope it will lead to success," Borodin's U.S. lawyer, Alex Fishkin, was quoted by Russia's Kommersant daily as saying.

Borodin is currently one of the heads of a committee which is helping manage preparations for a Russian-Belarussian union.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, who last week sharply criticised Borodin's arrest, said after arriving in Moscow on Tuesday that he continued to defend the former Kremlin aide.

"Borodin is a civil servant of our union and I, as chairman, as head of a senior state council, am duty-bound to support this man, duty-bound," Lukashenko said in televised remarks.

At the same time, Lukashenko said he would not oppose Russia if it wanted to replace Borodin, as this was Moscow's right.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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