OTTAWA - Russia has refused to waive diplomatic immunity for a diplomat accused of drunk driving in an accident that killed a 50-year old woman and Canada said he would leave by midnight.
The diplomat, identified by Canada's Foreign Affairs Ministry as A. Knyazev, 45, a first secretary in the Russian Embassy in Ottawa, was arrested after the fatal accident Saturday.
Police said the car he was driving jumped a curb and hit two women who were walking on a sidewalk with a dog, killing the 50-year-old woman. He was cited on five charges, including unintentional murder, drunk driving and refusal to undergo a blood alcohol test.
In another accident involving a Russian Embassy worker on Saturday, police charged E. Blokhin, a driver for the Russian ambassador, with impaired driving. No injuries occurred in the second accident.
Canada had asked Russia to waive the suspects' diplomatic immunity so they could be prosecuted in Ottawa. Russia refused on Monday, and Canada therefore asked that Knyazev and Blokhin be sent home, said Richard Kohler, chief of protocol for the Foreign Affairs ministry, said.
''If we cannot have justice done in Canada, we would want to see justice done in Russia,'' he said.
Kohler said that Knyazev and Blokhin would board a flight for Russia sometime Monday. No details about the flight were released by Canadian officials.
In Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov met Monday with the Canadian ambassador to express condolences.
A Russian government statement said: ''The Canadian ambassador was told that after an investigation in Moscow the guilty parties will be made to bear responsibility in accord with Russian legislation.''
Under the Vienna Convention, diplomats and their families can be charged with crimes but are immune from criminal prosecution and civil liability.