Russia snaps at Litvinenko charge

By Artyom Liss
BBC News, Moscow

Russia could not have been more blunt in its reaction to the charges against businessman and former FSB [security service] officer Andrei Lugovoi.

Just hours after Britain's Crown Prosecution Service called for Mr Lugovoi to be extradited, prosecutors in Moscow made an unusually swift statement.

Russia says it cannot extradite Mr Lugovoi

A spokeswoman quoted the Russian constitution which specifically bans extradition of Russian nationals to a foreign country.

She also hinted Mr Lugovoi might face trial in Russia - but only if British prosecutors share the Litvinenko files with their colleagues in Moscow.

Later on, the foreign ministry confirmed that Russia was prepared to co-operate, but only to a degree.

"We have said, on numerous occasions, that we are interested in an objective and unbiased investigation of this case," the foreign ministry said in a short statement published on its website on Tuesday night.

Victim or perpetrator

"As for an extradition, this would be a direct violation of the Russian constitution," it added.

The statement made by the British prosecutors is all about politics. This is a PR stunt aimed at blaming the Russian state for this murder. Viktor Ilyukhin, deputy head of Russia's Security Committee CPS statement on Litvinenko 'Stand-off' over spy case

And even Mr Lugovoi himself spoke out.

He told Russian media he considered himself "a victim not a perpetrator of a poisoning" and promised he would shortly "make a sensational statement which will bring about a radical change in how the British public views some people of Russian descent".

In Moscow, nobody has doubts as to who Mr Lugovoi means by "people of Russian descent".

From the moment Mr Litvinenko died in a hospital in London, pro-Kremlin media have been suggesting that another Russian exile to the UK might be involved - a former tycoon, Mr Lugovoi's friend, and a fierce critic of the Kremlin - Boris Berezovsky.

Many Russians have been pointing the finger at Boris Berezovsky

Russia has long been demanding that Mr Berezovsky should be extradited to Moscow on charges of fraud.

He is also accused by the Russian authorities of trying to mastermind a potentially violent regime change.

No wonder then that on Tuesday there was much talk among ordinary Muscovites of a potential "swap": Mr Lugovoi is sent to the UK, and in return, Mr Berezovsky comes back to stand trial in Russia.

For many Russians, including dozens of those who wrote in to the BBC's Russian language website, BBCRussian.com, this seems the most logical solution.

But, from a legal point of view, this "swap" would be impossible.

So, at least for the moment, Mr Lugovoi's immediate future looks fairly secure.

'All about politics'

The debate in Moscow now is not so much about him as about the damage this scandal might to do relations between Russia and the UK.

Head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, said on Tuesday he believed the charges were "purely political".

His views were seconded by a communist MP and deputy head of the Security Committee, Viktor Ilyukhin.

"The statement made by the British prosecutors is all about politics," he said.

"This is a PR stunt aimed at blaming the Russian state for this murder."

Alexander Litvinenko in hospital

But at the top of the Russian state, in the Kremlin, nobody is jumping to conclusions.

"Let's talk about a potential damage to our relations when there are actions coming out of London, not just statements," a spokesman for the Russian Presidential Administration, Dmitry Peskov, told the BBC.

"At the moment, all this seems to be a matter of law rather than politics," he said.

But it might all change very soon. The formal submission of a request for Mr Lugovoi's extradition is expected to take place before the end of the week.

And a "no" coming from Russia in response to this request will be political - as much as legal.