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MOSCOW - Russia has dismissed speculation it could hand over the man suspected of murdering Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in exchange for Britain extraditing a tycoon wanted in Moscow.
Russia and Britain are locked in a diplomatic tussle over Moscow's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoy, the man British prosecutors want to put on trial for poisoning Litvinenko with a radioactive isotope last year.
Some pro-Kremlin Russian politicians had raised the possibility of swapping Lugovoy for Boris Berezovsky, a multimillionaire living in London who is wanted by Moscow on corruption charges.
"The Russian Prosecutor General's office is not even considering this question since such actions are impossible under Russian law," Itar-Tass news agency quoted the prosecutor's office as saying in a statement.
Berezovsky was a pall bearer at Litvinenko's funeral last year and has said he is working to bring about a nonviolent change of government in Russia.
He has been granted refugee status in Britain and British courts have rejected an application from Russia for his extradition.
In a statement read out by friends after he died in a London hospital, Litvinenko said Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind his poisoning. The Kremlin has described the allegation as nonsense.
In Washington, the Bush administration sided with Britain on the issue of extradition.
Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said, "The United States supports the British request for extradition. This is a serious matter that needs to be dealt with."
- REUTERS
