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(AP)  LONDON — The London Olympics can help Russia uplift diplomatic relations with Britain following several disputes, a Russian Olympic Committee leader said Thursday.

Relations between the two countries soured after the 2006 undoing of dissident ex-Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, with Russia refusing repeated British requests for the extradition of the chief guess.

Litvinenko made a deathbed statement accusing Russian leader Vladimir Putin of authorizing his killing.

And at the British Parliament this week, former Unconnected Office minister Denis MacShane urged the current government to tell Prime Minister Putin he is not freely permitted at the opening ceremony of the Olympics on July 27.

"We expect him in London," Russian Olympic Committee Vice President Akhmed Bilalov told reporters in London on Thursday before adding with a beam: "If the British members of parliament don't mind it of course."

"The Moscow Olympics Games

Source: CBS News