RUSSIA:Russia says it is not willing to hand over to Britain the businessman suspected by Scotland Yard of poisoning the former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko.
Russian prosecutors said yesterday that there was virtually no prospect they would agree to any future British request for Andrei Lugovoi to be extradited to Britain to stand trial.
Senior British government officials have said that a Scotland Yard file on Mr Litvinenko's murder states there is sufficient evidence against Mr Lugovoi for the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether he should face prosecution.
Mr Lugovoi yesterday shrugged off the accusations against him. In an interview with Russian news agency Interfax, he said he had given "exhaustive answers" to Scotland Yard detectives in Moscow in December.
British officials are convinced that, in return for an extradition request for Mr Lugovoi, the Kremlin is likely to demand the extradition of Boris Berezovsky, the Russian millionaire who was granted asylum inBritain.
Sources in the Russian prosecutor's office have strongly denied this. - (Guardian service)