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MOSCOW (AFP) - British demands for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi -- the chief suspect in the murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko -- is "foolishness," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with newspapers from the Group of Eight industrialised nations.
"If the people who sent us this demand do not know that by Russian constitution Russian citizens cannot be extradited to foreign states, then their competence is in question," Putin said as quoted by the Interfax news agency.
"And if they knew this and still did it, that it was PR and politics. So however you look at this, it is pure foolishness," Putin scoffed.
Putin also said that the British extradition demand "lacked evidence on why we should do that -- as diplomats say, it lacks substance, lacks those very materials that British colleagues were basing on when they sent the demand."
He's got a point too. The Brits have been aware of this Russian constitutional stipulation for years over multiple cases. Considering Britain wouldn't hand over some Russian fugitives, it's quite dqft to even expect any cooperation.
