For this particular request, it's a bit messy but it seems totally legit to me and I don't see the problem who lead you to write this mail. The files are not deleted yet, you could still move them to local projects  (and even if they were deleted, a Commons sysop can still transfer the files to local projects).

There are many technical reasons why I can't transfer files on a daily basis. If you want to discuss details or propose a better way of file transfer, you are welcome to contact me off-list. When I say that I need time until October 31, 2016, it really means that I need this time to do things properly.

I'm very surprised to hear that you don't have Commons users to help you, how and why is that? (for WLM France, except for WMfr staff, nearly all members of the team are Commons users or Commons sysop; is this unusual?).

A short answer is that the majority of Russian-speaking users on Commons are either not interested in WLM or not suitable for any useful and systematic work (the latest example being one Commons user who botched the work of the WLE jury this year by not doing anything and not even replying to e-mails, while remaining active on Commons). Remarkably, these Commons users are still very good in submitting deletion requests and making damage to other projects. I know I should assume good faith, but that's a bit too much of it over the years...