WASHINGTON — In a dramatic decision Tuesday, an Austrian court approved the extradition to the United States of a Ukrainian oligarch with ties to a senior Trump adviser on corruption charges.

Dmytro Firtash, a billionaire who made a fortune as a middleman in Ukraine’s rough-and-tumble gas industry, has been indicted by US prosecutors in connection with allegedly bribing Indian officials to secure a titanium deal. An extradition request in 2015 had been denied by a Viennese court, which called the US allegations ‘‘politically motivated.’’ The final decision to send Firtash to the United States will be made by the Austrian Ministry of Justice.

Firtash wielded significant political power in Ukraine under former president Viktor Yanukovych, who was overthrown amid street protests in 2014. Firtash was arrested in Vienna on an FBI warrant just weeks after Yanukovych fled to Russia and was succeeded by a vocally pro-Western government. Firtash’s lawyers say that he is being targeted by the United States as part of a political inquisition against Yanukovych’s former political allies.

The criminal investigation was initiated under the Obama administration. Firtash had previously weighed teaming up with American investors and political strategist Paul Manafort, who managed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, to buy high-end real estate in the United States, including the famous Drake Hotel in New York. No deals were completed, and Firtash has denied that he invested in the project.

Firtash previously owned half of a company that negotiated natural gas sales from Russia and Central Asian countries to Ukraine, a lucrative business that Reuters in 2014 reported made him billions of dollars.

Washington Post