Moscow - A Russian prosecution official said Wednesday Moscow was awaiting material relating to Britain's intent to charge Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy in the radioactive poisoning death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. "Britain has the right, should it consider it necessary or if it considers the guilt of our citizen proven, to send us all materials," Sabir Kekhlerov, Russia's deputy prosecutor general, said in remarks run by Interfax.
Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Tuesday said there was sufficient evidence to bring murder charges against Lugovoy, a former intelligence agent himself who met Litvinenko at a London hotel the day he was believed to have been given an fatal dose of polonium-210.
Authorities in Moscow immediately rejected Britain's extradition request as illegal according to the Russian Constitution, while saying he could face charges at home.
"If the (Russian) prosecution considers the grounds for this sufficient and if we consider the grounds presented to us by the British side to be sufficient, (the evidence) will be given the proper legal consideration," Kekhlerov elaborated Wednesday.
He added Lugovoy would be brought to trial in Russian "only if his guilt is proved."
Lugovoy on Tuesday told reporters in Moscow the plan to charge him was "political," and he promised a "sensational" statement about Russian emigres in London that would shock British society.
Lugovoy has denied his involvement in the murder since Litvinenko's death last November.
Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky Wednesday repeated his claim that the Russian state - and President Vladimir Putin - were directly involved in the radioactive poisoning of Litvinenko.
Speaking on BBC radio, Berezovsky, who lives in London and has been granted refugee status by the British authorities, also said that Lugovoy would never be allowed to face trial in Britain.
