Vladimir Kuznetsov (born 1957) is a former Russian diplomat who was the head of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
Committee for Administrative and Budgetary Issues.
[''Russian UN official indicted in money laundering scheme'', Boston Globe]
/ref>
/ref> He also served as a diplomat for the Russian Mission.
Kuznetsov was indicted in September 2005 in the (1:05-cr-00916-DAB-1) following a guilty plea and immediate cooperation by the former UN official Alexander Yakovlev
Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Я́ковлев; 2 December 1923 – 18 October 2005) was a Soviet and Russian politician, diplomat, and historian. A member of the Politburo and Secretar ...
, who at the time was facing 20 years in jail on a conspiracy to commit money laundering charge. Yakovlev's lawyer, Arkady Bukh, stated that he expected Mr. Yakovlev's sentence to be significantly reduced in exchange for Yakovlev's testimony at trial. In March 2007, Kuznetsov was convicted in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.[''World Briefing , United Nations: Russian Ex-Diplomat Guilty In Bribe Case'', New York Times, March 8, 2007]
/ref> In October of the same year, he was sentenced to imprisonment for 51 months and a fine of $73,000.ITAR-TASS
The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...
October 12, 2007
Russian diplomat sentenced on money laundering charges
/ref>
Background
Kuznetsov was elected to a three-year term on the budget advisory committee in January 2003. The prestigious panel’s 15 members, including a representative of the United States, then elected him as its chairman. He has worked in various budget-related positions in the U.N. Secretariat and the Russian Mission since 1980.
The chairman is the only member of the ACABQ to draw a U.N. salary and benefits, and also gets diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country. . Committee members are not UN employees and do not normally enjoy diplomatic immunity. But the General Assembly granted him immunity because of his chairmanship. This diplomatic immunity was waived however, in August, 2005 the UN.
References
Living people
1957 births
Russian politicians convicted of corruption
Russian diplomats
Russian money launderers
Russian people imprisoned abroad
Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
Russian officials of the United Nations
United Nations Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions members
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