At a congress of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, headed by ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Lugovoi today said he will run for parliament on the party's list in the December 2 vote. When asked if he had other political aspirations, he said he would someday like to become president.
British prosecutors want to extradite Lugovoi to face trial for the poisoning of Litvinenko in London last year. Russia has refused, saying that its constitution bars Lugovoi's extradition.
A seat in parliament would guarantee Lugovoi legal immunity.
Lugovoi told reporters that the events surrounding Litvinenko's death pushed him to enter politics,. He called the charges against him "a vile provocation," and accused the British government of politicizing the investigation.
(Reuters, AFP, AP)
Aleksandr Litvinenko: A Timeline
CLOAK AND DAGGER: A timeline of a murder case that unraveled after Andrei Litvinenko, a former Russian security officer and vocal Kremlin critic, dies on November 23, 2006, of poisoning by radioactive isotope polonium-210.
In a deathbed letter, Litvinenko blames Russian President Vladimir Putin for his death -- a claim Putin condemns.
Investigators center on two meetings in London that Litvinenko had described -- one in which he met with two Russians for tea in London, and another in which he met with a third Russian at a sushi bar.
Six months later, British prosecutors announce they have enough evidence to charge a Russian citizen -- one of the men who had met with Litvinenko for tea -- with the murder ...more...
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