Andrei Lugovoi says recent statements of British officials show that “London is not going to look for the true culprits of Litvinenko’s death.”
Photo: Alexey Kudenko
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Russia Wants No Row with UK over Lugovoi – Foreign Ministry
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it is surprised by Britain’s backlash over Moscow’s refusal to extradite a man suspected of murdering former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, the ministry’s briefer told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Britain could cease cooperation with Russia on a range of issues such as social affairs, trade, education and counter-terrorism information, The Times reported Tuesday.
“Relations between Russia and Britain are all-sufficient and must not become hostage of this kind of problems,” the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said Wednesday. He reiterated that Russia’s refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi is based on Article 61 of the Constitution which bans extradition of Russian citizens to other countries.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office gave an official refusal on Monday to extradite Andrei Lugovoi to stand trial in the UK.
The British Foreign Office is to present a report to the parliament next week listing options to withdraw cooperation with Russia.
Andrei Lugovoi says recent statements of British officials show that “London is not going to look for the true culprits of Litvinenko’s death.”
Former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko died in a London hospital last November from a dose of radioactive polonium 210.
www.kommersant.com
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