Britain asks Russia to extradite Litvinenko suspect

MOSCOW, May 28 (Reuters) Britain's ambassador today submitted an official request to Russia for the extradition of the man suspected of murdering Alexander Litvinenko.

British prosecutors said last week they wanted to bring Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy before a British court to try him for the murder of Litvinenko, who died on November 23 after being poisoned with polonium 210.

Ambassador Anthony Brenton submitted the request to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, a spokesman said.

''I can confirm that today the ambassador submitted to the Russian Foreign Ministry papers requesting the extradition of Mr Lugovoy,'' a spokesman for the British embassy said by telephone.

Asked if they had received the documents, an official with the Russian prosecutor general's office said: ''We confirm this.'' Lugovoy, who has always protested his innocence, met Litvinenko in a London hotel on November 1, the day Litvinenko fell ill.

Moscow has refused to hand over Lugovoy to Britain because the Russian constitution forbids the extradition of its citizens. The affair has set the two countries, now tied by billions of dollars of trade, on a diplomatic collision course.

A former Russian security service officer who obtained British citizenship, Litvinenko said in a message read by his associates after his death that the Kremlin was behind his poisoning.

The Kremlin has said those accusations are nonsense and senior officials say the Litvinenko affair has been used by President Vladimir Putin's enemies to damage Russia's image.

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