- Sputnik International
Russia
The latest news and stories from Russia. Stay tuned for updates and breaking news on defense, politics, economy and more.

Russia demands evidence in Litvinenko case -1

Subscribe
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has not yet received a single document in the Alexander Litvinenko murder case from Britain, a senior investigator said Wednesday.
(Recasts headline, lead, paragraph 3, adds quote in paragraph 5, background in 6-12)

MOSCOW, July 25 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has not yet received a single document in the Alexander Litvinenko murder case from Britain, a senior investigator said Wednesday.

In an interview with the daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta to be published Thursday, Andrei Mayorov said: "We have not received a single document in the Litvinenko case. Technically, we do not even know what he died of, as unfortunately, we have received all our information about the Polonium-210 poisoning from so-called open sources."

In early July, Russian prosecutors formally refused to extradite former Kremlin bodyguard-turned-businessman Andrei Lugovoi, accused by the U.K. of fatally poisoning former Russian security officer and Kremlin critic Litvinenko in London last November, citing the Constitution.

Mayorov told the paper that Britain's extradition request contained general conclusions lacking proof, and that Britain had not yet provided the results of its Litvinenko probe.

Reiterating earlier statements on the matter from Russian officials, Mayorov said in the request that Scotland Yard emphasized the political rather than the legal aspects of the case. "A huge part of the document was devoted to what they call the history of Litvinenko's struggle against allegedly illegal activities of the FSB [Federal Security Service]," he said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier denied his country was politicizing the Litvinenko case. "We cannot tolerate a situation where all the evidence is that not only was one person assassinated but many other people were put at risk," he said.

A row over the murder has led to Britain expelling four Russian diplomats last week and announcing visa restrictions for Russian officials and similar measures from Moscow.

President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday Britain's demand that Russia extradite Lugovoi and amend its Constitution to this end showed the country retained a colonialist mentality, the remarks, which will likely to heighten the row.

"What they are proposing is obviously a vestige of colonial thinking," Putin said at a meeting with youth organizations at the presidential residence in Zavidovo, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of Moscow.

Putin said London was still harboring 30 people wanted in Russia on grave charges, including tycoon Boris Berezovsky, accused of massive fraud and plotting a coup in Russia, and Chechen emissary Akhmed Zakayev, considered a terrorist by Moscow. Russia's repeated requests for their extradition have been rejected by London.

"They do not extradite people who are hiding on their territory, including individuals suspected of or charged with terrorist activities, but make serious claims to other countries and give insulting recommendations to change the Constitution," Putin said.

The remarks came following Putin's attempt last week to play down what he called a "mini-crisis" with London, saying he was positive the problems would be resolved.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала