Russia 'will not extradite poison spy suspects'

Russia will not extradite possible suspects in the poisoning of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko to Britain, the prosecutor general said today.

“If they want to arrest them it would be impossible They are citizens of Russia and the Russian constitution makes that impossible,” said Yuri Chaika.

A team of British investigators is in Moscow to collect information on Litvinenko’s death in London on November 23. Toxicologists found polonium-210, a rare radioactive substance, in Litvinenko’s body before he died.

Chaika said Russian prosecutors would co-operate with the British officers, but declined to provide further details on the probe.

Litvinenko, 43, blamed Russian president Vladimir Putin for the poisoning. The Kremlin has vehemently denied the accusations.

Meanwhile, lawyers for an imprisoned security officer, Mikhail Trepashkin, said he has key evidence in the case. They appealed to the British officers to collect testimony from him as soon as possible, saying his life is in danger.

Trepashkin, who is serving a four-year sentence for revealing state secrets, reportedly said in a letter from prison that he had warned Mr Litvinenko several years ago about a government-sponsored death squad that intended to kill him and other Kremlin opponents.

Trepashkin said he had information that “could shed light on the killing” of Litvinenko, his lawyer Yelena Liptser told The Associated Press yesterday.

“If the authorities don’t allow him to do that, that would mean they are trying to hide something,” he added.

In letter texts released by his supporters, Trepashkin said an officer of the federal security service, a KGB successor agency known by the acronym FSB, offered him a chance in 2002 to join a group targeting Litvinenko that he rejected. Trepashkin quoted the officer as saying that ”Litvinenko won’t escape Trotsky’s ice pick,” referring to the 1940 murder of Leon Trotsky by a Soviet agent.

Moscow’s prosecutor-general’s office said it has agreed to help Scotland Yard officers in the investigation.

British law enforcement authorities earlier said a team of nine officers travelled to Moscow to interview several people, including Andrei Lugovoi, another former agent who met Litvinenko on November 1 – the day he fell ill. FBI agents have also been involved in the probe.