The Russian media report the row with the UK calmly, although some commentators are puzzled about the UK's motives and critical of what they see as double standards.

Other outlets look ahead to the situation blowing over quickly, and the official government newspaper even calls for the "spitting contest" to stop.

More broadly, one paper sees a possible threat to business ties, while a radio station feels it looks like Russia has something to hide.

Even the British themselves don't know how this will unfold further, not least because London can be suspected of applying double standards... The fact that other countries have laws and even a constitution appears to disturb British ministers to the depths of their souls... It seems as if a scandal was the main purpose of this whole story.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband knew full well that in Russia it is the FSB that plays a key role in the fight against terrorism. In this way Britain itself provoked Moscow's tough statement... In recent years, Russia has reacted with great restraint to unfriendly steps taken by Britain.

An eye for an eye, a diplomat for a diplomat... It wasn't Russia that began this. When the investigation was launched into Litvinenko's death, Russia was ready to cooperate. But Lugovoy's extradition to Britain was impossible because the constitution doesn't allow it. Now Britain is advising Russia to correct its basic law. Other countries have asked in vain for Britain to hand over suspects.

If Russia had simply accepted Britain's demarche, it would have meant an admission of guilt of some kind. Moscow did not do that even during the Cold War... The British boxed themselves into a corner... Russia's reaction was spot-on... It is now time to stop. This exercise increasingly resembles a contest between boys as to who can spit the furthest.

Russia could only take similar action or signify readiness for a goodwill gesture. It did not manage a goodwill gesture, unsurprisingly... If common sense prevails, they could forget all about the conflict in a matter of months.

At the moment the scandal looks like a sensation, but time will pass and in a month the crisis will probably have blown over. There have been even trickier times in the history of Russian-British relations.

Moscow has decided to escalate the conflict. However, Vladimir Putin described it as just a 'mini crisis' which the sides can deal with... But it looks like the situation could last for quite a long time. A veiled threat to the UK was discernible when a business leader said Russian companies could leave the London Stock Exchange.

There's nothing surprising about Russia's response. However, Russia has escalated the situation by refusing to cooperate in the fight against terrorism... It looks as if Russia didn't want this cooperation... With every gesture Russia makes, the suspicion hardens that the Kremlin has something to hide.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.