Havana, January 21 (RHC)-– A Russian convicted of hate crimes has been arrested in Cuba and could soon be extradited to Moscow, a Russian diplomat in Havana told AFP Monday.

"Ultra-nationalist Russian Maxim Martsinkevich, wanted on the international level, was arrested January 17th in Cuba and in the coming days a decision will be made about his extradition to Russia," the embassy official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A Russian court approved in absentia an arrest warrant for 29-year-old Martsinkevich on charges of "inciting hate."

He was accused of publishing extremist videos on the Vkontakte social website against members of ethnic minorities and the LGBT community.

Martsinkevich had earlier founded a neo-Nazi group, Format-18, with the digits corresponding to the place in the alphabet of Adolf Hitler's initials.