Russia examining British stand on diplomats' expulsion

Moscow, July 17 (UNI) Russian Foreign Ministry is scrutinising a diplomatic note handed to the Russian ambassador in London as Moscow formulates an appropriate response to the expulsion of four Russian diplomats announced by the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband yesterday, in the parliament.

''We are scrutinising the position of Britian, including the content of this note, in order to develop and take adequate measures,'' the official spokesman of the Ministry Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement.

''Thirty minutes before the speech by the British Foreign Secretary in the House of Commons, the Russian ambassador to Britain was invited to the Foreign Officie, where a note dealing with the expulsion of our diplomats and other steps taken by Britain, citing the British government, was handed out to him,'' the statement said.

Russian Ambassador to London Yury Fedotov was summoned to the British Foreign Office ahead of Monday's official speech of Miliband and given the names of the four Russian diplomats who are to be expelled from the country, a source in the Russian embassy in London told Interfax news agency today.

''The Russian ambassador was invited to a high-level meeting, at which the names of four Russian diplomats who will have to leave the country at the British side's demand were disclosed,'' the agency quoted the source as saying.

The British authorities, however, did not demand that the diplomats must leave the country within the next 24 or 48 hours, he said adding, ''These diplomats hold middle-ranking positions.'' Meanwhile, Andrei Lugovoi, main accused in the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, said in Moscow, the latest British moves were against Russia, were designed to draw the public's attention away from the investigation of the ''Litvinenko case.'' ''This is being done to divert public opinion from the real investigation that is being conducted by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB),'' Lugovoi said in an interview with Russia Today TV channel.

He said British officials are misleading the public.

''I am convinced that British intelligence is directly involved in stoking this scandal, influencing UK officials. I do not know exactly how. Probably through considerations of political expediency,'' Lugovoi said.

He also said he doubted the independence of the British justice system, and distrusted British investigators.

Lugovoi, who met Litvinenko on the day he fell ill in London, told journalists that London's decision to expel Russian diplomats was a clear attempt to politicize the case.

Russia has refused to extradite Lugovoi to Britain and offered to try him here.

UNI