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| Russian faces Litvinenko charge | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| A former KGB officer should be charged with the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the director of public prosecutions has recommended. | |
| Sir Ken Macdonald told a news conference that Andrei Lugovoi should face trial. | Sir Ken Macdonald told a news conference that Andrei Lugovoi should face trial. |
| Mr Litvinenko, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in London in November after exposure to the radioactive isotope polonium-210. | Mr Litvinenko, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in London in November after exposure to the radioactive isotope polonium-210. |
| Mr Lugovoi has strongly denied being involved with the poisoning. | |
| Sir Ken said Mr Litvinenko's death was an "extraordinarily grave crime". | |
| 'Public interest' | |
| Mr Litvinenko, who was granted political asylum in the UK in 2000 and went on to take British citizenship, died at University College Hospital on 23 November 2006. | |
| I have instructed CPS lawyers to take immediate steps to seek the early extradition of Andrei Lugovoi from Russia Sir Ken Macdonald | |
| Sir Ken told the press conference: "I have today concluded that the evidence sent to us by the police is sufficient to charge Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Mr Litvinenko by deliberate poisoning. | Sir Ken told the press conference: "I have today concluded that the evidence sent to us by the police is sufficient to charge Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Mr Litvinenko by deliberate poisoning. |
| "I have further concluded that a prosecution of this case would clearly be in the public interest. | "I have further concluded that a prosecution of this case would clearly be in the public interest. |
| "In those circumstances, I have instructed CPS lawyers to take immediate steps to seek the early extradition of Andrei Lugovoi from Russia to the United Kingdom, so that he may be charged with murder - and be brought swiftly before a court in London to be prosecuted for this extraordinarily grave crime." | "In those circumstances, I have instructed CPS lawyers to take immediate steps to seek the early extradition of Andrei Lugovoi from Russia to the United Kingdom, so that he may be charged with murder - and be brought swiftly before a court in London to be prosecuted for this extraordinarily grave crime." |
| The counter-terrorism command of the Metropolitan Police has been conducting a detailed international investigation into his death. | |
| The police inquiry, during which officers followed a trail of polonium radioactivity left at a series of locations visited by Mr Litvinenko in London before he died, eventually took them to Moscow. | |
| His friends, including London-based Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, have accused the Kremlin of ordering his assassination but the Russian government has rejected such claims. | |
| Police passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service in January. | |
| Diplomatic relations between Russia and the UK have been strained by the case. | |
| BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said it was hard to see how Mr Lugovoi could be extradited given Moscow's attitude. |