MOSCOW, August 23 - RAPSI. Russian fugitive Pyotr Silaev has reportedly been arrested in Spain. A statement issued Thursday by the Policia Nacional, Spain’s federal police force, stated that a 27-year-old Russian wanted in his home country on charges of arms and explosives possession had been arrested.

While the statement refrained from mentioning the name of the defendant, referring to him instead by the initials P.S., his identity has been confirmed in various news sources.

Police agents located Silaev in a Granada hotel, informed him of the charges pending against him, and then arrested him. He was immediately transferred to the police unit in compliance with procedural formalities required in accordance with his international arrest and extradition order.
Spain’s national court, the Audiencia Nacional, will hear his extradition case.

Silaev is wanted along with some other suspects in connection with an attack on Moscow suburb Khimki’s local administration building. The attack, which resulted in 395,000 rubles ($12,500) worth of damage, was reportedly in response to the administration’s support for the construction of a highway through local forest.

According to RIA Novosti, on July 28, 2010 about 90 masked young men pelted the Khimki administration building with fire crackers and empty bottles, while chanting slogans about the protection of Khimki forest. The protest lasted only five minutes or so before the young men departed in a very orderly fashion.