«Following the order of the prosecutor general of the Russian Federation, on May 18, at Domodedovo airport Leonid Semenovich Kaplan was transferred to officials of the kingdom of Spain», says the official statement issued by the Prosecutor General's office.

In February 2008 Spanish justice ministry asked Russia's general procuracy to detain Kaplan and extradite him to face charges of laundering the money of Russian criminal boss Zakhary Kalashov (alias: Shakro the Young).

The Russian Mafia (rumafia.com) reported that Kaplan was arrested in Moscow on March 5, 2010. According to the Prosecutor General's office, it took a year to establish whether Kaplan is eligible for extradition. Within a year Spanish authorities submitted the supporting documents necessary for extradition. Leonid Kaplan's lawyers appealed against the extradition, but the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the general procuracy. 

On May 12, 2011, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled to extradite the businessman to Spain. His defence claims his extradition was carried out with violation of law.

The lawyers says that Russian authorities denied Kaplan the right to live and receive medical treatment. «It was not an extradition, it was a kidnapping of seriously ill person», Marina Yarosh, the businessman's lawyer, said. According to the European Convention on Extradition of 1957, she said, it is forbidden to extradite seriously ill people without permission of doctors. A few weeks ago Kaplan had kidney cancer surgery and was undergoing treatment in Blokhin Cancer Research Center in Moscow's Kashirskoye Highway. 

Marina Yarosh said, when the FSB agents were refused the permission to transfer Kaplan they “snatched” him. “At 2 a.m. 10 armed agents of the FSB rushed in the ward, lay the centre's guard down and ordered the nurse on duty to stand still facing the wall. They transferred him to the airport and hand over to Spaniards,” the lawyer said. Kaplan was not allowed to take personal belongings and prescribed drugs he had to take in according to the schedule. The relatives of Leonid Kaplan had not been informed of the date of extradition, the lawyer said, it violates the rights of her defendant.