LITVINENKO'S MURDERER TO RUN FOR MAYOR OF CITY HOSTING 2014 RUSSIAN OLYMPICS

BBC:

Lugovoi poised to run for mayor

If Mr Lugovoi wins he would be mayor right up to the 2014 Winter Olympics

Andrei Lugovoi, the prime suspect in the murder of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko, is set to run for mayor of the southern Russian city of Sochi.

The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is backing Mr Lugovoi as its candidate, although it has not yet registered him.

British police want to question Mr Lugovoi, who is already an MP, about Mr Litvinenko's death by radioactive poisoning in London in November 2006.

Moscow has said Russia's constitution bars any extradition.

It has asserted that Mr Lugovoi was framed by the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6. [SO DOES AJ STRATA, THE JERK]

But senior British officials told the BBC in July that they believed the murder was carried out with the backing of the Russian state.

Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB officer, fell ill shortly after a meeting at a central London hotel with Mr Lugovoi. He was later found to have been poisoned with the radioactive substance, polonium-210.

... The election will be held next month and if Mr Lugovoi wins he would be mayor right up to the opening of the Winter Olympics in 2014.

Mr Lugovoi said he viewed the initiative with curiosity and interest. When asked if he would visit London if he became mayor of Sochi to learn about preparing for the Olympics, he said if necessary he would.

Mr Litvinenko's widow, Marina, said the election of Mr Lugovoi would be "an affront to all people of good will".

"In that case I would call for a boycott of the games. I would personally go from country to country urging people not to go to an event hosted by a murderer," she said in a statement.

Putin and Lugovoi should be arrested for murder, tried, convicted and executed.