UK says will follow Russia spy probe wherever it leads

LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) British police investigating the death of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko will follow leads inside or outside Britain, interior minister John Reid said today.

The investigation into Litvinenko's mysterious poisoning with radioactive polonium 210 was set to broaden, the British Home Secretary said.

''The police will follow wherever this investigation leads, inside or outside of Britain,'' he told Sky TV.

From his deathbed, Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his slow and agonising death, which has sparked a public health scare and strained London's relations with Moscow.

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said nine British police investigators, including anti-terrorism experts, would fly to Moscow on Monday as part of the probe.

Itar-Tass quoted confidential sources as saying the investigators wanted to question a number of Russian citizens who had been in London on November 1, the day Litvinenko fell ill.

London police had no immediate comment.

The Kremlin denies any involvement and has promised full ooperation with the British investigation. Other theories have centred on the possible involvement of rogue Russian agents.

Reid said he would share information with other European Union ministers at a meeting this week and British health authorities were liaising with European counterparts.

British authorities said last week that traces of radiation had been found at 12 sites and aboard planes that carried 33,000 passengers in the past month. Reid said there was no cause for concern over any health risk.

LETHAL DOSE Mario Scaramella, an Italian contact of Litvinenko who was admitted to a London hospital after polonium 210 was detected in his body, said on Saturday he believed both he and Litvinenko had been poisoned because of secrets they shared. He said he had received a potentially lethal dose of polonium 210, ''I have reason to believe that the poisoning of myself and Litvinenko may be connected to information that Litvinenko himself, for months, had transmitted to me,'' Scaramella said in a statement published by Italian media.

He did not accuse anyone of the poisoning or specify what kind of information Litvinenko had sent him.

The London hospital treating Scaramella said on Sunday that he remained well. ''The results of his pathology tests to date remain normal. Further tests are being carried out today and the tests under way involve measurements of the level of polonium in his urine,'' a spokesman said.

Scaramella, a KGB expert, met Litvinenko at a London sushi restaurant on November 1 to show him e-mails from a source warning their lives might be in danger.

Traces of polonium 210 were also found in the urine of Litvinenko's widow Marina, but Reid said the risk to her was negligible.

British newspapers published a variety of theories about Litvinenko's death today. The Observer alleged Litvinenko had planned to make tens of thousands of pounds blackmailing senior Russian spies and business figures.

Reid dismissed the speculation. ''It isn't a game of 'Cluedo','' he said, referring to a murder mystery board game.

''It's a very important, serious investigation and let's go where the police take us on it.'' REUTERS SP VC2004