MOSCOW, May 31 (RIA Novosti) - Andrei Lugovoi, the chief suspect in the poisoning of a former Russian agent, said that the murdered Alexander Litvinenko and fugitive tycoon Boris Berezovsky worked for the British secret services.
The U.K. applied Monday for the extradition of Lugovoi, a former security officer turned businessman, saying it had enough evidence to charge him with the murder of Litvinenko, Berezovsky's associate who died of radioactive poisoning in London in November.
"Today I would like to make an announcement, which should shed some light on this dark political story, where the main roles were played by the British secret service and their agents Berezovsky and the late Litvinenko," Lugovoi told a Moscow news conference, adding that British intelligence had also approached him with an offer of cooperation.
Russian prosecutors have refused to extradite Lugovoi, saying it was against Russian law. Moscow has also been fruitlessly seeking the extradition of Berezovsky, accused of fraud, from Britain where he has been based since 2001 and became a British citizen in 2003.
Lugovoi quoted Litvinenko as saying the British secret services had recruited him first.
"And then Berezovsky followed his advice and handed over some documents from the [Russian] Security Council, which he held as a former deputy council secretary, and became an MI6 agent. Then acquiring [British] citizenship became a purely technical matter for him," Lugovoi said.
The businessman, who owns a private security firm, said he was ready to face Russian justice if Russian prosecutors found the evidence supplied by their British colleagues sufficient to charge him.
Lugovoi also said he had three versions of Litvinenko's poisoning - by the British secret services, the "Russian mafia" and Berezovsky, adding that he could prove the British secret services' involvement. "I am very serious about what I am saying, including these accusations," he said.
In his deathbed note, Litvinenko said Russian President Vladimir Putin had orchestrated his poisoning, an allegation denied by the Kremlin. Lugovoi told reporters Thursday that the British secret services had been looking for information to discredit Putin.
"The British basically proposed that I collect any materials to discredit Vladimir Putin and his family," Lugovoi said.
The businessman also said that he and his colleague Dmitry Kovtun, another former spy-turned-businessman and a witness in the Litvinenko inquiry, were victims rather than witnesses in the case. "We maintain a clear position that we are not only innocent or witnesses, but are victims," Lugovoi said.
He also accused Litvinenko of cooperating with Chechen separatist emissary Akhmed Zakayev, who also has a political refugee status in Britain. Zakayev is wanted in Russia on terrorism charges.
"He [Litvinenko] was in Istanbul on instructions from Akhmed Zakayev, where he met with some representatives of Chechen groups," Lugovoi said.
British authorities are meanwhile planning to obtain a broader European arrest warrant for Lugovoi and put him on the Interpol wanted list. Litvinenko's widow, Marina, said last week she had filed a suit against Russia with the European Court of Human Rights.
