Poisoned ex-spy accuses Putin from beyond grave

LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) Ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of his murder today in a statement read out the morning after he died of an unknown poison in a London hospital.

''You may succeed in silencing one man. But a howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done,'' Litvinenko said in a statement read out by friends.

''You may succeed in silencing me, but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics claim.'' Britain's Home Office (interior ministry) said police believed his death was caused by ''the presence of a radioactive substance in his body'' and had brought in experts to search for radioactive residue at a number of locations.

Litvinenko, now a British citizen, fell ill on November 1 after meetings with another Russian ex-spy at a London hotel and an Italian magistrate at a downtown sushi bar.

The Kremlin insisted it had nothing to do with the killing.

But the allegation Moscow sent secret agents to murder a man in Britain for the first time since the Cold War cast a shadow over Putin's appearance at an EU summit in Helsinki.

''The allegations are a complete nonsense for us. It is so nonsense that we don't want to comment anyhow. The death of Mr Litvinenko, reports of the death of Mr Litvinenko, of course its a tragedy, a tragedy,'' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Asked by the BBC at the summit who was to blame, he said: ''I do not know. And it's a case for relevant British services.'' European leaders have so far held their fire. Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country holds the EU presidency, expressed sympathy to Litvinenko's family but declined to say whether he would bring up the death with Putin.

''We don't actually know very much about it, and we need this.

And the UK authorities will of course investigate what has happened,'' he said before welcoming Putin to the summit.

Another former Russian spy came forward in Moscow to acknowledge that he had met Litvinenko at a London hotel with two other Russians the day he suddenly fell ill. The man, Andrei Lugovoy, told a Russian newspaper they had discussed ''business''.

REUTERS DKA RAI2054