At a meeting, the Swiss charge d'affaires, "was informed of the injustice of the aforementioned decision, with which we are not in agreement and which does not take account of the persuasive arguments for extraditing Yevgeny Adamov to Russia already presented to Swiss authorities several times," the foreign ministry said in a written statement.

"It was underlined by our side that this bewildering and disappointing decision cannot fail to affect Russian-Swiss relations," the statement continued.

Swiss authorities on Monday announced they had approved a request from the United States to hand over Adamov, rejecting a competing request by Moscow.

Russia's nuclear minister from 1998 to 2001, Adamov is suspected of fraud and money-laundering in connection with nine million dollars sent by the US government to help Russia improve its nuclear safety.

He has been in jail in Switzerland for five months and has said he would prefer to be extradited to his home country.

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