LONDON: The British government said on Thursday it will freeze the assets of Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, the two main Russian suspects in the killing of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Home Secretary Theresa May, who is in charge of justice issues, also told lawmakers that the government is summoning the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Office to express its “profound displeasure.”

May announced the action being taken after British Judge Robert Owen ruled that Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. He says there’s a “strong probability” that Russia’ FSB spy agency directed the killing and the operation was “probably approved” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

May said that the conclusion that the Russian state is probably involved in the murder of Litvinenko was “deeply disturbing.” She described it as a “blatant and unacceptable breach of international law and civilized behavior.”

In Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it does not consider the conclusions of a British inquiry to be impartial because it claims the result had been predetermined.

“We regret that a purely criminal case has been politicized and has darkened the general atmosphere of bilateral relations,” spokeswoman Maria Zhakarova said in a statement.

“Clearly the decision to suspend the coroner’s inquest and begin ‘public hearings’ was politically motivated,” she said.

Lugovoi, now a member of the Russian parliament, called the charges against him “absurd.”

Lugovoi told the Interfax news agency on Thursday “the results of the investigation that were announced today once again confirm London’s anti-Russian position and the blinkered view and unwillingness of the British to establish the true cause of Litvinenko’s death.”

He insisted that the inquiry just allows Britain to further its political interests and says “I hope that this polonium trial will debunk the myth of the impartiality of British justice.”

As a lawmaker, he is now immune from prosecution in Russia.