Russia vows "appropriate" response to UK expulsions

By Michael Stott

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia promised on Tuesday an "adequate and appropriate" response very soon to Britain's expulsion of four of its diplomats but said it did not want ordinary citizens or businessmen to suffer.

Britain said on Monday it was throwing out the diplomats in retaliation for Moscow's refusal to extradite the key suspect in the murder last year in London of former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko. Russia's constitution bans extradition.

"They are trying to punish us for following our own constitution," Alexander Grushko, a Russian deputy foreign minister, told reporters in Moscow.

"This is a direct path to confrontation."

He said Russia would inform British authorities very soon about its countermeasures but did not say what they might be.

"We will fully take into account the interests of ordinary citizens, tourists, participants in cultural and scientific exchanges and business circles," he added.

"We do not want them to suffer because of London's political actions."

A spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office said no retaliation by Russia would be justified.