February 09, 2007
Tony Halpin in Moscow
The Kremlin has linked its co-operation in solving the murder of Alexander Litvinenko to British help in extraditing exiled critics of President Putin.
Russian officials demanded that Boris Berezovsky, a billionaire businessman, and the Chechen separatist envoy Akhmed Zakayev should be sent back.
The issues were raised at a meeting in Moscow between Alistair Darling, the Trade and Industry Secretary, and Alexei Kudrin, the Russian Finance Minister, to discuss trade links. Mr Darling is the first Cabinet minister to visit Moscow since Litvinenko was poisoned with radioactive polonium210 in London in November.