Russian Officials Send Diplomat Who Hit Officer Back to Moscow

Yielding to pressure from the State Department and city politicians, Russian officials sent the diplomat who hit a police officer with his car while allegedly driving drunk last weekend back to Moscow, officials said yesterday.

Ilya Morozov, 28, an attache at the Russian Mission to the United Nations for the last year, boarded a plane for Russia just hours after the consulate received a diplomatic note from the American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, requesting Mr. Morozov's diplomatic immunity be waived or that he be sent out of the country, a spokeswoman for the mission, Maria Zakharova, said.

In its diplomatic note responding to the State Department, the Russian Mission said it reserved the right "to return to the discussion" of the situation after reviewing documents about the case and police allegations, Ms. Zakharova said.

On Saturday night, Mr. Morozov drove around cones on 108th Street while attempting to enter a closed section of the FDR Drive, police said. An officer from the 3rd Highway Unit tried to flag down the car, but was hit in the knee by the attache's 2005 Toyota Corolla. The officer was taken to the hospital and held overnight, but not hurt seriously, police said.

Despite saying that they smelled alcohol on his breath, police could not arrest Mr. Morozov on felony charges because the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations protects him. The convention precludes the host country from arresting or prosecuting a diplomat or consulate employee.

Mr. Bolton said he would have preferred to prosecute the attache "for the serious offense that he committed," but the case will not be pursued. A spokesman for the mayor's office said the matter was now considered closed.