Russia to respond British moves to expel diplomats

Moscow, July 18 (UNI) Russia will offer a precisely ''targeted and adequate'' response to London's moves to expel four Russian diplomats over the refusal to extradite businessman Andrei Lugovoi to Britain to face charges in the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.

''Someone is trying to punish Russia for observance of its own Constitution,'' Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said here referring to the official rejection by Russian Prosecutor General's Office to hand over Lugovoi to British authorities.

''This contravenes common sense. It is fairly well known that our Constitution prohibits extraditions of Russian citizens, and no political decisions will change this legislative reality,'' he said.

''It is quite obvious the newly-imposed sanctions aim to politicise the Litvinenko case and do not at all look like an invitation to cooperate,'' Itar-Tass news agency quoted Grushko as saying yesterday.

''They open the door to confrontation and sizably narrow the opportunities to work together with Russia on a wide range of issues,'' he noted, indicating, however, that the Russian government will do everything in its power to make tourists and students on exchange programmes unaffected by these moves.

''We do not want them to suffer in any way,'' Grushko said.

He stressed the Britain's decision to expel four Russian diplomats would complicate bilateral cooperation in security issues.

''It is obvious that the line London is pursuing will complicate or make impossible cooperation between law enforcement bodies in issues relating to the safety of millions of British and Russian citizens,'' he said.

Grushko did not specify the ''targeted and adequate'' measures Russia was planning to take, but he said British Embassy in Russia would have lost 80 diplomats if Moscow had followed London's example.

Russian Ambassador to London Yury Fedotov said Britain had already fixed a deadline for the expulsion of four Russian diplomats.

''We need time for a response,'' Fedotov told RIA Novosti news agency, without specifying what retaliatory measures Russia would take.

Grushko also said although Russia had asked Britain to extradite two of its own suspects, fugitive tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen emissary Akhmed Zakayev, ''none has yet been extradited.'' Berezovsky is accused of fraud and plotting a coup, while Zakayev is facing terrorism charges. Both have been granted British citizenship.

''We hope common sense will prevail in the European Union and its members will refrain from new attempts to turn relations between Russia and the EU into a unique instrument for attaining unilateral political goals that have nothing to do with the true interests of the EU-Russia partnership,'' Grushko said.

UNI