Dead spy's co-author sees FSB power play at work

LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) The poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko was part of a power play by Russia's security services that challenges President Vladimir Putin's authority, the dead man's fellow author and friend said.

Writer Yuri Felshtinsky yesterday also accused Moscow of blocking investigations into the death of former Russian agent Litvinenko, as prosecutors there said they would not extradite any suspects to Britain.

''I think it is clear now that they're going to sabotage the whole case,'' Felshtinsky told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Earlier, Russia's chief prosecutor made clear that he, and not visiting British police, would call the shots in the investigation and decide whether or not to grant permission to the British to conduct interviews on Russian soil.

Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who became a fierce critic of the Kremlin, died a slow, excruciating death last month after being poisoned by radioactive polonium 210.

His deathbed accusation that Putin ordered his murder has strained relations between Russia and Britain, with Moscow denying any role and describing the charge as ridiculous.

Felshtinsky, himself a Russian, took a different view from his friend.

''My instinct tells me Putin did not give the order. My instinct tells me this was done by the FSB (security service) and the decision was taken within the FSB. They didn't ask Putin's permission,'' he said in an interview conducted in English.

He alleged the FSB had carried out the murder of Litvinenko, its former agent, as part of a gathering power struggle leading up to the 2008 election when Putin's successor will be chosen.

''I think they are trying to show Putin that they control the situation in Russia, which is very possible,'' Felshtinsky said.

He described Putin as a ''50-50 president'' caught between two power blocs -- the billionaire tycoons known as oligarchs who control the economy, and the security establishment to which the Kremlin chief himself previously belonged.

''They (the FSB) do not want 50-50 any more, they want 100 percent. I'm afraid this is just the beginning of their campaign,'' Felshtinsky said from the United States, where he lives.

He and Litvinenko co-authored a book, ''Blowing up Russia: Terror from within'', in which they accused the FSB of carrying out a series of 1999 bombings that were blamed on Chechen separatists and used by Putin to justify war against Chechnya.

Felshtinsky said he rejected some of the theories advanced as motives for Litvinenko's death. They range from the suggestion he had uncovered Kremlin foul play surrounding the failed YUKOS oil company, to the notion he might have poisoned himself.

''Everybody who knew Alexander ... understood he is the last person who would commit suicide,'' he said. ''He was not crazy at all.'' REUTERS SP BST0910