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Russia won’t extradite Andrei Lugovoi · 2007-05-23 11:16

Alexander Litvinenko, Andrei LugovoiThe British authorities accused a Russian businessman, Andrei Lugovoi, of murdering Alexander Litvinenko.

A former KGB agent was poisoned six months ago in London with a radioactive element polonium 210, New York Times reports.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said it would seek the extradition of Mr. Lugovoi, a former KGB bodyguard who now owns security and other businesses, from Moscow. But Russia’s prosecutor general ruled out extradition, suggesting instead that Britain hand over the files for a trial in Russia. The Russian prosecutor general’s office also is investigating Mr. Litvinenko’s death.

Mr. Lugovoi, who proclaimed his innocence on Tuesday, had known Mr. Litvinenko for several years. Both had worked in the 1990s in Moscow for Boris A. Berezovsky, now the self-exiled Russian tycoon living in London who was once among Russia’s richest and most powerful men.

Mr. Litvinenko, 43, died on Nov. 23, 2006, after weeks of debilitating illness. He became ill on Nov. 1, the day he met Mr. Lugovoi and Mr. Kovtun at the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel, across from the American Embassy, in Grosvenor Square. At the meeting, Mr. Litvinenko drank tea, which his associates have since asserted was laced with polonium.

The murder accusation did not mention Mr. Kovtun or a possible motive. From his deathbed, Mr. Litvinenko accused President Vladimir V. Putin of responsibility for poisoning him – a charge the Kremlin has dismissed as ridiculous.

The British accusation is likely to further strain relations between Britain and Russia, already damaged by Britain’s refusal to extradite Mr. Berezovsky, who had been Mr. Litvinenko’s main employer until mid-2006. Mr. Berezovsky offered no comment on Tuesday.

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