Russia receives British extradition request for poison suspect

Russia has received a British request for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi.
·The evidence is sufficient to charge Lugovoi with the murder of Mr. Litvinenko.
·Litvinenko became a British citizen several weeks before his death.

Russia said it will not extradite a businessman Andrei Lugovoi after British prosecutors on Tuesday brought charges against him for poisoning former secret agent Alexander Litvinenko last November.

Andrei Lugovoi (File Photo)
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MOSCOW, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Russia on Monday confirmed that it has received a British request for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, a businessman and a suspect for poisoning former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London.

"We received such a request today, and it will be considered and a reply will be made," Itar-Tass news agency quoted a spokesperson of the Prosecutor General's Office as saying.

Russia has rejected to extradite Lugovoi after British prosecutors last Tuesday brought charges against him for poisoning Litvinenko last November, saying it will be against the Constitution.

"Under Russian laws and the Constitution, in the first place, Russian citizens cannot be handed over to other countries for standing trial there," said Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika. Russian Justice Minister Vladimir Ustinov also said that Lugovoi will not be extradited, Itar-Tass said.

Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko at London's University College Hospital on 20 November 2006.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)
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Russia and Britain, however, could exchange information on Lugovoi and the Russian tycoon in exile Boris Berezovsky, said Vladimir Vasilyev, head of the Duma Security Committee.

British prosecution service said there have been enough evidence to charge Lugovoi over the death of Litvinenko.

"I have today concluded that the evidence sent to us by the police is sufficient to charge Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Mr. Litvinenko by deliberate poisoning," The Crown Prosecution Service Chief Ken Macdonald said in a statement.

Litvinenko died of radioactive poisoning, from Polonium 210, in London on Nov. 23. Experts investigating his death have found radiation traces at a dozen locations and on two British Airways planes that flew the Moscow-London route.

Lugovoi, also a former Soviet KGB agent, was a business partner of Litvinenko and had met the latter in a London hotel on Nov. 1. Litvinenko fell ill on that day and died weeks later in a London hospital.

Litvinenko, who was a strong critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused the Kremlin of orchestrating his poisoning just before his death. Moscow has vehemently denied the charge.

The former agent, who had been arrested several times, fled to Britain with his wife and son in November 2000 and was granted asylum. He became a British citizen several weeks before his death.