Russia has officially asked France to extradite former Finance Minister of the Moscow region Alexei Kuznetsov, Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev told reporters on Tuesday. \"We sent an extradition request the other day,\" Zvyagintsev said. Kuznetsov is accused of 3.5-billion-ruble fraud in the housing and public utilities sector. He was detained by Toulon police near Saint-Tropez in southern France in the first half of July at the request of Russian law-enforcers and placed under pre-extradition arrest. Kuznetsov had been Finance Minister of the Moscow region until 2008. He resigned of his own accord. The then Regional Governor Boris Gromov explained that Kuznetsov had stepped down because of his dual citizenship.