from The BBC Online

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the UK will make “no apologies” for expelling four Russian diplomats.

The decision follows Moscow’s refusal to hand over the former KGB agent accused of murdering Alexander Litvinenko in London last year.

Mr Brown said that because “there is no forthcoming co-operation, then action has to be taken”.

The Kremlin said the decision was “immoral” and warned of “serious consequences” for the UK.

‘Absolutely clear’

Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who became a UK citizen, was poisoned in London eight months after being exposed to radioactive polonium-210.

But Moscow has refused to extradite the main suspect, Andrei Lugovoi.

On a visit to Berlin on Monday, Mr Brown said: “I think people will understand that, when a murder takes place, when a number of innocent civilians were put at risk as a result of that murder, and when an independent prosecuting authority makes it absolutely clear what is in the interests of justice, and there is no forthcoming co-operation, then action has to be taken.”

The prime minister added that he wanted a “good relationship” with Russia.

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