Bulgaria has handed over to Russia a Russian citizen wanted on a charge of murder in Moscow in 2005, Russian interior ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said.

Volk said the handover took place today at Sofia airport. Officers from the Interpol National Central Bureau at Russia's interior ministry and from the Federal Penitentiary Service took the man into custody.

Russian investigators opened a criminal case under Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code. Volk said the victim was a man who died of cut wounds.

The accused fled Russia and was then put on an international wanted list.

Volk also said Bulgaria passed on word of his detention through Interpol channels.