Lugovoi: UK trying to distract attention
Wednesday, 11 Jul 2007 15:40
Andrei Lugovoi has been accused of killing Alexander Litvinenko
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The man Britain suspects of killing former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has accused the UK of trying to cover up its own investigation problems.
Andrei Lugovoi is wanted by British prosecutors for questioning over the poisoning of Mr Litvinenko last year.
The crown prosecution service (CPS) has formally charged Mr Lugovoi with murder but the Russian government has refused to extradite the ex-KGB officer.
Britain's Foreign Office said Moscow's stance was "unacceptable" and pledged to "consider our response with the deliberation and seriousness that it deserves".
But speaking to the Russian news agency Interfax today, 43-year-old Mr Lugovoi has pointed the finger back at Britain.
He said that he would not trust a British court if he was tried here and suggested that the UK media has already prejudiced any potential trial against him.
"My opinion is that the UK authorities' turbulent reaction to the Russian prosecutor general office's refusal to extradite me is not aimed at finding the true culprits in Litvinenko's death," Mr Lugovoi told Interfax.
"Rather, its goal is to distract domestic attention from the not very professional work of the UK's detectives in this case."
Mr Lugovoi has previously alleged that Britain's security services may themselves have been implicated in the death of Mr Litvinenko, who passed away at a London hospital last November after being administered with a fatal dose of the radioactive isotope polonoium-210.
Russia had offered to try Mr Lugovoi in Moscow but Britain's director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald QC, refused.
"The allegation against Mr Lugovoi is that he murdered a British citizen by deliberate poisoning and that he committed this extraordinarily-grave crime here in our capital city. The appropriate venue for his trial is therefore London," Sir Ken said.