Moscow - The principal suspect in the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko, is likely to run for mayor of Sochi, the host city of 2014 Winter Olympics, an ultra-nationalist party said Friday.

Lugovoi, who is wanted in Britain for Litvinenko's poisoning by radiation in London, is the party's "leading candidate" to the post, senior party member Igor Lebedev told news agency Ria-Novosti.

The party still had two weeks to register their candidate for the April 26 municipal elections.

Ex-KGB agent Lugovoi, 42, won a Duma seat in 2007 for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), with his parliamentary seat giving immunity to repeated British extradition demands.

The case has turned Lugovoi into a national celebrity and the flamboyantly-dressed businessman who runs a private security firm has given constant media interviews accusing shady anti-Kremlin forces of guilt for Litvinenko's murder.

"We don't care a jot for the international opinion on the subject, this is a Russian election," said Lebedev, the son of the LDPR's firebrand leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The nationalist party has 40 seats in Russia's 450-seat lower house.

"Until now, no jury or court has convicted him of any crime," he was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying. "There is the opinion of the British police, but they may have their opinions. In Russia and the rest of the world people are innocent until proven guilty."

The Olympic budget is currently over 5.7 billion dollars and the next mayor of Sochi will play a major part in the distribution of funds. (dpa)