Claudius - polonium

Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoy to Britain sparks a diplomatic scandal

Moscow's official refusal to extradite Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy , accused of murdering Alexander Litvinenko with the radioactive element polonium-210 in London in November 2006, caused an extremely harsh reaction from the British authorities. The Times newspaper, citing the press service of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, emphasizes that this decision by Moscow “extremely disappointed” Great Britain. “Russia’s refusal to extradite Lugovoy is extremely disappointing to us, and we deeply regret that Russia was unable to demonstrate adequate willingness to cooperate in this matter,” the British Prime Minister’s press service said.

The matter may not be limited to words of regret. Next week, the country's parliament will receive a report on the investigation into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, prepared by the British Foreign Office. And although the Foreign Office press service refused to disclose details in advance, according to The Times, the document will contain proposals for London's further actions. It is expected that “we will talk about the termination of cooperation in one or more areas of bilateral relations, including education, the social sphere, trade and exchange of information in order to counter terrorism.” Even the bilateral agreement on providing emergency medical care to Russian citizens in the UK and British subjects in Russia could be jeopardized.

Exactly a week ago, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office refused to satisfy the request of the British authorities to extradite Andrei Lugovoy on the basis of Article 61 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. It states that “a citizen of the Russian Federation cannot be expelled from the Russian Federation or extradited to another state.” At the same time, Moscow stated that it was ready, if Great Britain provided the relevant documents for Lugovoy, “to consider the issue of his criminal prosecution in Russia.” But the British Crown Prosecution Service considered this proposal unacceptable, doubting that “the trial in Moscow would meet the criteria of impartiality and fairness.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, is “extremely surprised that in London the fact that Russia is observing its democratic Constitution is causing criticism.” Foreign Ministry official Mikhail Kamynin recalled yesterday that “in the 90s, the West persistently called on Russia to build a rule of law state.” “We proceed from the fact that active interstate relations in a wide variety of areas cannot become hostage to the extradition or non-extradition of a citizen,” he emphasized. According to Mikhail Kamynin, “if specific evidence and facts of guilt” of Andrei Lugovoy are presented, then “the issue of holding a trial in the Russian Federation may be considered.” “However, no relevant information was received,” noted the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

It should be remembered that the Russian authorities have already violated Article 61 of the Constitution by extraditing Russian citizen Murad Garabayev to the authorities of Turkmenistan in 2002. As a result, Mr. Garabayev had to be literally rescued from the dungeons of Saparmurat Niyazov’s regime. And later, Murad Garabaev sued Russia for his illegal extradition in the European Court of Human Rights for 20 thousand euros.

Petr ISKENDEROV,