Spy murder suspect 'to run for parliament'
The sole suspect in the radiation poisoning death of Kremlin foe Alexander Litvinenko has been nominated to run for parliament on a pro-Kremlin ultranationalist party’s ticket, according to a Russian news agency report today.
Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said that Andrei Lugovoy a former KGB officer who Britain has identified as the main suspect in last year’s murder in London of Alexander Litvinenko, would be No. 2 on the party’s list in December’s parliamentary elections, the Interfax news agency reported.
Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant politician who heeds the Kremlin’s orders, dismissed British charges against Lugovoy as “an attempt to organise provocations against our citizens”, Interfax said.
Lugovoy declined to comment, saying he would talk about the issue after the party’s congress tomorrow.
Litvinenko, a former KGB officer with asylum in Britain died last November in a London hospital after ingesting radioactive polonium-210. In a deathbed statement, he accused President Vladimir Putin of being behind his killing – the charges the Kremlin has fiercely denied.
Litvinenko said he first felt ill the day he met with Lugovoy and two other Russians at a London hotel bar.
Russia has rejected Britain’s request for Lugovoy’s extradition, saying its constitution forbids it. Tensions over the Litvinenko case have badly hurt the bilateral ties, and the two nations recently have announced tit-for tat diplomat expulsions.
Putin has dismissed British demands for Lugovoy’s extradition as a vestige of British “colonial thinking”.
