Russian laughs off threat of poisoning extradition

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy on Friday laughed off a report that Britain was preparing to request his extradition to stand trial for the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Lugovoy, a former KGB bodyguard who later worked as head of security for tycoon Boris Berezovsky, chuckled when a Reuters correspondent read the report in the Guardian newspaper to him.

"You can say on Reuters that when Lugovoy was read the Guardian report about my extradition, Lugovoy gave full-hearted, healthy laughter," he said by telephone.

He declined to answer any other questions and said reporters should refer to earlier interviews. In an interview with Reuters last month, he denied his guilt and criticized British media for portraying him as a monster.

Litvinenko, who died in a London hospital, issued a deathbed statement accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing him. The Kremlin has dismissed the allegations as nonsense.

The Guardian quoted unidentified British officials as saying an extradition request for Lugovoy could be made as early as next month. However, the Russian constitution forbids the extradition of its citizens.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the investigation into Litvinenko's death was "very much ongoing at this stage" and declined to predict when police would complete it and send their report to prosecutors.

The spokesman would not comment on whether Lugovoy was the chief suspect.

DEATH BY POLONIUM

Lugovoy met Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel in London's Grosvenor Square on November 1 with another Russian, Dmitry Kovtun. Later that day, Litvinenko complained of feeling ill and was admitted to hospital shortly afterwards.

Litvinenko, a former spy who became a Kremlin critic, died of polonium 210 poisoning on November 23.

Lugovoy was treated at a Moscow hospital after Litvinenko's death for what some Russian media said was radiation sickness. Lugovoy refused to say what he was being treated for.

British detectives questioned him last year at a Moscow hospital that specializes in treating people with radiation sickness.

The Guardian said British officials were bracing for a cooling of relations with Moscow after the extradition request and government officials were convinced the Kremlin would demand the extradition of Berezovsky.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service in London said there was nothing to prevent Britain seeking the extradition of someone from a country with which it has no extradition treaty.

"There's nothing to stop us, but if there is no extradition treaty and we think that the people won't be extradited, there's not much point doing it," she said.

A source in the Russian prosecutor-general's office was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying Russia's constitution meant Moscow would not extradite Lugovoy.

Berezovsky, who helped Putin achieve power, fell foul of the Kremlin as Russian leader moved to cement his authority. He fled Russia in 2000 and lives in London.

(Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan)