Moscow rejects Miliband call for extradition

Russia today rebuffed a fresh appeal to extradite the suspected killer of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

In talks in Moscow, Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for Andrei Lugovoy to be sent to Britain to face trial. Mr Litvinenko, a former agent for the FSB, the successor to the KGB, was poisoned with radioactive Polonium 210 in the West End in 2006.

However, despite seeking to "reset" diplomatic relations with Britain, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov refused. "Our British counterparts are aware of the fact that a demand to change our constitution is not realistic," he said, referring to Russian law.

Mr Miliband, on the first visit by a British Foreign Secretary to Moscow for five years, insisted that Britain would not "trade off" the demand for justice for better diplomatic and commercial ties.