LONDON, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - Four Russian diplomats, expelled by U.K. authorities amid a dispute over the Alexander Litvinenko murder case, have left Britain, a Russian Embassy official said Friday.
"The diplomats mentioned in the British Foreign Office's announcement of the expulsion are no longer in Britain," the official said.
The diplomats were ordered to leave over Moscow's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, charged in the U.K. with killing former Russian security officer and Kremlin critic Litvinenko in London last November. The diplomats, whose names have not been officially announced, were obliged to leave the U.K. by Friday's deadline.
Russia, which argues that Lugovoi's extradition is impossible under the country's Constitution, responded to Britain's move with similar expulsions. Both countries have also imposed visa restrictions for officials and suspended cooperation against terrorism.
Litvinenko defected to the U.K. in 2000 and received British citizenship shortly before his death. A note purportedly written by him on his deathbed accused President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating his murder, an allegation the Kremlin dismissed as ridiculous.
No official statement on the reasons of Litvinenko's death has been published yet by U.K. authorities, but doctors said traces of radioactive polonium-210 were found in his body.
