Litvinenko murder suspect blames MI6

The main suspect in the murder of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko has claimed that the British secret services were involved in his death.

Andre Lugovi also claimed that MI6 tried to recruit him as a spy and claimed that Mr Litvinenko was working for them as well.

Andre Lugovi made the claims during a news conference in Moscow. Mr Lugovi, also a former KGB agent, claimed that he was "openly recruited" by the British Secret Service and claimed that they asked him to collect "compromising information" about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his family.

However, Mr Lugovi said that he refused.

Referring to the murder of Mr Litvinenko last November, Mr Lugovi said that he had been made a scapegoat. He said: "Sasha [Mr Litvinenko] was not my enemy. I didn't feel cold or hot from whatever he was doing, about the books he was writing. I've been in business for a long time and I was not really interested."

Mr Lugovi suggested that Mr Litvinenko may have been killed because of his links to MI6 or exiled Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky - who he also claimed was working for MI6 - or because he was working to uncover evidence about the Russian mafia.

Mr Berezovsky has denied any involvement in Mr Litvinenko's death, while former KGB officer and British agent Oleg Gordievsky told the BBC that Mr Litvinenko had not worked for the British secret services.

Mr Litvinenko died in a London hospital last November. A large dose of the radioactive substance polonium-210 was found in his body.

Britain has requested the extradition of Mr Lugovi from Russia last week so that he could be charged with Mr Litvinenko's murder.

However, the Russian state prosecutor said that Mr Lugovi would not be extradited.

(KMcA/SP)