Russia refuses to extradite suspects in ex-spy's poisoning

Russia refuses to extradite suspects in ex-spy's poisoning
By Peter Finn and Mary Jordan
Washington Post
MOSCOW - British detectives visiting Russia to investigate the poisoning death of a former Russian intelligence officer in London will face broad restrictions in their work here, a senior Russian official said Tuesday.
Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika said his subordinates would perform any interrogations, not the British. He ruled out the extradition of possible suspects who are Russian citizens and said British investigators could not meet an imprisoned lawyer and former officer in the FSB, a successor agency of the KGB, who claims to have vital information.
A key witness checked into a hospital Tuesday, creating questions about when -- and possibly whether -- investigators from Scotland Yard would be able to see him.
Some British politicians quickly criticized the restrictions. ``If they don't allow access, the world at large will wonder, why not?'' said British lawmaker David Davis, a leading member of the opposition Conservative Party, in an interview. But he cautioned it was too early to know exactly how much cooperation British investigators would get.
At a press conference in Moscow, Chaika smacked down any notion that the British police could go wherever their investigation leads them, as British Home Secretary John Reid put it in London on Sunday. Even allowing for the normal sensitivities in any country about allowing foreign police on home turf, Chaika was unequivocal in mapping out the secondary function of his British counterparts.
``They may participate with our consent, and we might also withhold our consent,'' said Chaika, who is the equivalent of the country's attorney general.
Several British detectives flew into Moscow on Monday night to probe any Russian connection to the Nov. 1 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko with polonium-210. The radioactive isotope brought on the former domestic security officer's death 23 days later after a slow and gruesome deterioration in his condition.
Litvinenko, 43, was part of a London circle of Russian exiles that is fiercely critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a deathbed statement, Litvinenko accused the Kremlin of ordering his killing, a charge that authorities here labeled as baseless and absurd.
Among those the British had planned to interview is Andrei Lugovoy, a Russian entrepreneur and former KGB officer who met with Litvinenko in a bar at the Millennium Hotel in London the day of the poisoning.
Lugovoy spoke to officials at the British Embassy in Moscow and denied any involvement in the poisoning. His attorney, Andrei Romashov, said he was tested last week for radiation contamination and got a clean bill of health in a Moscow clinic. But the Russian newspaper Kommersant, quoting the attorney, said Lugovoy had checked into a hospital with his wife and three children, who were with him in London, for fresh tests.
``I cannot say if he's ready to meet with the British investigators,'' Romashov said.
The British police officers are also interested in meeting with Dmitry Kovtun, a business consultant, and Vyacheslav Sokolenko, who heads an association of security agencies. Both men also met Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel with Lugovoy.
The British want also to meet Mikhail Trepashkin, a former FSB officer who is serving a four-year sentence on charges of divulging state secrets. Trepashkin, like Litvinenko, had investigated a series of apartment bombings in Russia in 1999 that were one of the triggers for a second war between Russian forces and separatists in the southern republic of Chechnya.
Trepashkin accused his former colleagues in the security services of masterminding the bombings. Human rights groups including Amnesty International have expressed concern that he was prosecuted to stop his unsanctioned inquiry.
Trepashkin's attorneys released a letter in which the prisoner claimed that the FSB had created a list of people, including Litvinenko, who should be assassinated, and he requested a meeting with the British claiming he had relevant information about the case.
A representative of the Russian prison system told the Russian news agency Interfax that would not happen. ``The Federal Penitentiary Service will not allow a person convicted for divulging state secrets to remain a source of information for representatives of foreign special services,'' the official said.