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Litvinenko Murder Suspect to Run for Mayor of Olympic City
Lugovoy doesn't care if Brits skip 2014 Games
By Jason Farago
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Posted Mar 23, 09 8:12 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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Russia fought hard to win the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, reports the Los Angeles Times, and now a second battle is heating up: the race for mayor of the Black Sea resort town, which is beginning billions' worth of construction. Among the contenders are a media magnate with a KGB past, a deputy PM who's been blacklisted, and—most surprisingly of all—Andrei Lugovoy, the man internationally wanted for the 2006 polonium murder of Alexander Litvinenko.
Lugovoy, who cannot leave Russia due to a warrant for his arrest, said he was unafraid of an Olympic boycott by the "Anglo-Saxon empire," and illustrated the relationship between the US and Britain with a series of jokes about Jews. Another candidate called him a "murderer" and "a disaster for Russia," but Lugovoy didn't mince words in response. "I want to kick them in the head," he said. "I despise them."