Poisoning suspect may run for Sochi mayor

MOSCOW, March 14 (UPI) -- Andrei Lugovoi, the former KGB agent named by British police as a suspect in the killing of Alexander Litvinenko, may run for local office in Russia.

Lugovoi, already a member of parliament, is being considered as an ultra-nationalist candidate for mayor of Sochi, the Black Sea resort that is to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, the Novosti news agency reported.

"The Liberal Democrat Party considers Andrei Lugovoi to be the movement's leading candidate for the Sochi mayor elections," said Igor Lebedev, party's parliamentary leader.

Litvinenko, also a former KGB agent, died in London in 2006 after being poisoned with polonium. While he was dying, he named then-President Vladimir Putin as the man ultimately responsible for his death.

Britain applied for Lugovoi's extradition, but the Russian government has refused to turn him over for prosecution.