Russia on Monday heavily criticized the expulsion of four Russian diplomats from Britain over Moscow's refusal to extradite murder suspect Andrej Lugovoi, according to dpa. The committee chair for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Russia's Lower House of Parliament, Andrej Kokoshin, called the decision a "mistake," which would not be left without a response. The expulsion neither had a legal basis nor was it politically sound, he said. "Britain will suffer more than Russia," Kokoshin was quoted as saying by Interfax. Especially in economic terms Britain would suffer considerable losses, he added. Britain had earlier announced it would expel four Russian diplomats from Russia's embassy in London after Moscow refused to extradite former KGB officer Lugovoi to face trial in Britain for the murder of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in November 2006.
