Russia wants Britain to extradite tycoon Boris Berezovsky on fraud charges and Chechen separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev. Britain is seeking the extradition of a former FSB guard turned businessman, Andrei Lugovoi, accused of poisoning Alexander Litvinenko, a former intelligence officer, in London in November.
"We would encourage them to cooperate," Sean McCormack, U.S. State Department spokesman, said, adding that he was confident Britain was seriously considering Russia's extradition requests.
"I am sure they are taking a close look at them. That is for them to resolve, but we would encourage an attitude of cooperation," he said.
Russian authorities are refusing to agree to hand over Lugovoi citing the Constitution, which states that a Russian national cannot be extradited to another state, and saying that evidence against him is not strong enough.
"The important thing here is to answer the question of who killed this man. The British authorities say they have enough evidence to bring this particular person to trial," McCormack said.
The U.S. official refused to say whether Washington backed London's demand to extradite Lugovoi, but urged an early resolution to the case.
"This is a case that needs to be resolved. This murder of Mr. Litvinenko is just terrible. It's an awful, terrible way to die through this radiation poisoning, not to mention the other people possibly put at risk through what was done," he said.
