UK police silent on Litvinenko killer's identity

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) British police today declined to comment on a report that they had identified the man suspected of killing the former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko in London.

Litvinenko died in a London hospital on November 23 after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210. In a deathbed statement, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of involvement in his murder. The Kremlin has dismissed the allegations.

Traces of polonium-210 have been found at several locations in London -- including a hotel room where Litvinenko met two other Russians -- in an apartment in Hamburg, on aircraft and at the British embassy in Moscow.

The Times newspaper said police had identified the man they suspect of having carried out the poisoning by matching a description given by Litvinenko to images from security cameras at Heathrow airport.

Identified simply as ''Vladislav'', the man is said to have arrived in London from Hamburg on November 1 -- the day Litvinenko said he met another former Russian spy and a Russian businessman and then fell ill -- travelling on a forged EU passport.

The newspaper reported that ''Vladislav'' had also been at the meeting, and had since vanished.

''We are not prepared to discuss (details of the case),'' a police spokeswoman said.

The case, which has seen British police visiting Moscow and Russian police in London, has strained diplomatic ties between Russia and Britain.

Litvinenko, who lived in London, had been a vocal critic of Russia's FSB intelligence service, successor to the Soviet-era KGB. He was also acquainted with Boris Berezovsky, the Kremlin's highest-profile enemy, who lives in London.

REUTERS LL BS2103