The man charged by Britain with murdering former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko denied involvement on Thursday, saying British intelligence and a self-exiled Russian billionaire were far more likely suspects.
In the latest twist to a sensational murder case which has revived memories of the Cold War and seriously damaged British-Russian relations, Britain’s main suspect Andrei Lugovoy sought to parry the accusations against him.
”Britain is making me a scapegoat,” a confident and combative Lugovoy, himself a former KGB agent, told a packed news conference in Moscow which was televised live on state-owned television.
Lugovoy said he did not know for sure who killed Litvinenko with radioactive polonium in London last November but said there were three possible suspects: British intelligence, the mafia and Boris Berezovsky, a billionaire tycoon who fled Russia for London after falling out with President Vladimir Putin.
”The third theory looks the most likely to me. I am talking about Berezovsky, who is well known as an outstanding master of political intrigues,” Lugovoy said.
Berezovsky is the Kremlin’s chief hate figure in London because of his constant and fierce criticism of Putin and his open admissions that he wants to fund a revolution to change the government in Russia.
Britain’s granting of asylum to Berezovsky has infuriated Moscow, who wants him extradited to face criminal charges in Russia.
Tragic consequences
In a statement read out by friends after he died in a London hospital, Litvinenko, a former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer who obtained British citizenship, said Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind his poisoning.
The Kremlin has described the allegation as nonsense and accused its opponents living abroad of manipulating the case to damage Russia’s image.
Lugovoy said Litvinenko had already been recruited by British intelligence before his murder and may have annoyed his handlers.
”I cannot get away from the thought that Litvinenko was an agent who had gone out of control and they got rid of him,” Lugovoy said.
Asked whether he had firm proof of British intelligence involvement in the murder, Lugovoy defiantly replied: ”Yes”.
The British Foreign Office had no immediate comment.
Lugovoy also alleged that Litvinenko had obtained compromising material which could jeopardise Berezovsky’s political refugee status and claimed that this could have provided a motive for his murder.
”In this regard I can suppose that he did not abandon these attempts to blackmail Berezovsky and it is quite possible this led to tragic consequences,” Lugovoy said.
Lugovoy repeatedly insisted that both Litvinenko and Berezovsky were working for British intelligence.
”In the words of Sasha [Litvinenko] himself, first he was recruited and afterwards, on his advice, Boris Abramovich [Berezovsky] gave to the British some [Russian] security council documents and also became an MI6 agent,” Lugovoy said.
Lugovoy also said British intelligence had tried to recruit him in order to provide compromising information on President Vladimir Putin and his family.
Lugovoy, who once guarded the Kremlin elite, now runs a private security firm in Moscow, and has repeatedly denied any involvement in Litvinenko’s death.
Asked about traces of polonium which were found in hotels and aircraft he used in October and November during visits to London, Lugovoy said he had been ”purposefully marked with polonium” to create a political scandal. – Reuters