Russia to try Litvinenko suspect if guilty-Ifax

MOSCOW, May 25 (Reuters) Russia will try the chief suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko if Britain supplies sufficient evidence of his guilt, Interfax news agency quoted Russia's chief prosecutor as saying today.

British authorities want Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB officer who met Litvinenko on the day he fell ill, to be extradited from Russia to face trial for his murder but Moscow says it cannot extadite its own citizens.

Russian Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika said he told British Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith that: ''if the British side present us with evidence of Lugovoy's guilt and we consider it sufficient then he can be prosecuted,'' Interfax reported.

A spokeswoman for the Prosecutor-General's Office confirmed Chaika's comments.

Lugovoy told Reuters on Wednesday he was not guilty. Russia's constitution forbids Russia from extraditing its own citizens.

Reuters SV GC1834