MOSCOW, July 16: Russia's foreign ministry warned on Monday that the expulsion of four Russian diplomats from Britain would have “the most serious consequences” on relations between the two countries.

The sanction measures announced by Britain “cannot but lead to the most serious consequences in British-Russian relations as a whole,” the ministry's spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said in broadcast comments.

Britain announced on Monday the expulsion of the diplomats and other sanction measures to protest Moscow's refusal to extradite the suspect in the murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband spoke on the issue by telephone earlier on Monday, Kamynin said, without specifying whether this was before or after the announcement from London.

Russia says its constitution prevents it from extraditing its own citizens to face trial in another country, while Britain says this is possible under international accords signed by Russia.

“British authorities have recently been refusing to extradite citizens from other countries who are on English territory and are accused of crimes. In this context, we believe London’s position is immoral,” Kamynin said.

Kamynin referred to leading Chechen separatist Akhmed Zakayev and fugitive Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, both of whom have been granted asylum in Britain and are wanted by Russian authorities.

Reacting to the news from London, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Moscow’s reaction would be “decisive and appropriate,” while a member of the Russian parliament warned Britain’s economy would suffer.

“From the economic point of view, the British side will suffer great harm,” said Andrei Kokoshin, a deputy from the ruling United Russia party, quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

—AFP