Moscow – The top prosecutor said Tuesday that Moscow will not extradite possible Russian suspects to Britain in the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko and warned that British detectives would not be allowed to carry out interrogations in Russia.
Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika said that under Russian law, a Russian citizen who is accused of committing a crime abroad must face trial at home.
“If they want to arrest citizens of the Russian Federation, it would be impossible because of the Russian Constitution,” he told reporters.
Litvinenko, 43, died Nov. 23 in London, and toxicologists found the radioactive isotope polonium-210 in his body. On his deathbed, Litvinenko blamed President Vladimir Putin for the poisoning. The Kremlin has vehemently denied the accusations.
Putin met Tuesday with Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema, who had pledged to press Moscow about Litvinenko’s poisoning, but neither man mentioned the case in his public remarks.
Chaika said his office would fully cooperate with a team of Scotland Yard investigators who arrived in Moscow on Monday to collect information on Litvinenko’s death.
However, he said that all figures in the case would be questioned by Russian prosecutors in the presence of the visiting British officers. “It is we who are doing all the interrogating. They only attend that; it cannot be otherwise (in Russia),” Chaika said.
The prosecutor also confirmed that Andrei Lugovoi, a former Russian agent who met with Litvinenko in London on Nov. 1 – the day Litvinenko fell ill – has been hospitalized.
Chaika said the British officers could be allowed to visit Lugovoi and listen to his interrogation by Russian prosecutors, if doctors permit it. “If doctors allow a conversation with him, he will be questioned,” Chaika said.
Lugovoi told the ITAR-Tass news agency that he was undergoing tests for possible radiation contamination, and the results would be ready in a few days.
He said he was prepared to answer the British investigators’ questions.
“Once I give all the necessary testimony to the law enforcement organs, I intend to publicly put an end to (speculation) about my supposed involvement in this story,” he was quoted as saying.
Lugovoi went to London in the month before Litvinenko’s death and met with Litvinenko four times, according to Russian media. He said Litvinenko had contacted him about a year ago with some business proposals and that they had met intermittently in London since then.
