Former Kremlin aide freed on bail

A police van takes Borodin to court in Geneva on Saturday

A Swiss court has ordered the release from custody of former Yeltsin aide Pavel Borodin after Russia paid bail of 5m Swiss francs ($3m).

Mr Borodin, was extradited on Saturday from the United States to Switzerland, and charged with money laundering and belonging to a criminal organisation.

Mr Borodin denies wrongdoing

One of Mr Borodin's lawyers in Geneva, Vincent Solari, said his client would now probably return to Russia, possibly as early as Friday.

"The bail has just been paid to the courtroom cashier," Mr Solari told Reuters news agency. "We are arranging things right now."

Mr Borodin, 54, has been ordered to remain available for questioning in the two-year Swiss inquiry.

Mr Borodin is currently in a high security ward in a Geneva hospital, where he was taken from prison on Monday suffering from chest pains.

His lawyers had successfully argued that there was no risk of him fleeing Switzerland.

Mr Borodin appeared for Thursday's brief court hearing accompanied by a Russian translator and surrounded by his legal team.

He was detained in New York in January on an international arrest warrant issued by a Swiss judge.

Kremlin contracts

The Swiss authorities accuse Mr Borodin of taking millions of dollars in bribes from two Swiss construction companies in return for contracts to renovate the Kremlin and other public buildings in Moscow while Boris Yeltsin was president.

Supporters in New York protested Mr Borodin's innocence

He denies the charges.

Mr Borodin was one of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin's closest confidants.

He was one of the first officials removed from the Kremlin by President Vladimir Putin last year, as the new Kremlin chief sought to distance himself from corruption scandals dogging his predecessor.

Mr Borodin is currently the secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union. Though largely ceremonial, the position guarantees him legal immunity in Russia.

Links to Yeltsin

In December, Russian prosecutors closed an investigation into whether Mr Borodin accepted bribes from two Swiss firms - Mabetex and Mercata - to take part in the renovation of the Kremlin, laundering the money in Swiss accounts.

They also decided not to investigate allegations linking Mr Yeltsin and his family to the affair; allegations the Yeltsin entourage deny.

The Russian news agency, Interfax, quoted the deputy chief of the special investigations department of the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office, Ruslan Tamayev, as saying there was "no case" against Mr Borodin.

However, the Geneva courts have continued to freeze bank accounts held by a Swiss construction company involved in the Kremlin scandal.