Russian tycoon says Litvenenko named suspect

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky has said former agent Alexander Litvenenko had told him he suspected Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy of being involved in his poisoning.

Berezovsky, a leading Kremlin critic who lives in exile in Britain, said in a BBC interview yesterday he was willing to speak to Russian and British authorities about the death of Litvinenko, whom he described as a friend who once saved his life.

Litvinenko died on November 23 in London from radiation poisoning caused by polonium 210. In a deathbed statement, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder -- an allegation dismissed by the Kremlin.

Berezovsky, who visited Litvinenko in hospital, said: ''(Litvinenko) said: 'Boris you know that I think that Lugovoy is involved in my poisoning'.'' Lugovoy, a former KGB agent who met Litvinenko in a London hotel on November 1, the day Litvinenko first fell ill, has denied any guilt.

Last month he dismissed British media reports Britain was preparing to demand his extradition over the poisoning.

Lugovoy was treated at a Moscow hospital after Litvinenko's death for what some Russian media said was radiation sickness. He has been questioned by British detectives.

Berezovsky said he was ready to meet British or Russian authorities about Litvinenko's death but Britain's Scotland Yard police headquarters had not asked him.

''I initiate this idea for Scotland Yard people and tell them I am absolutely open to meet people from Russia if it helps to investigate Alexander's case,'' he said.

Last month, Russian prosecutors denied halting an investigation into Berezovsky, who is accused of calling for an overthrow of power in Russia.

Berezovsky, who fled Russia for Britain in 2000 after falling foul of Putin, told journalists in January 2006 he had been planning a forced takeover of power in Russia.

Russian prosecutors opened an investigation and Jack Straw, then Britain's foreign minister, warned Berezovsky his residency status could be reviewed if he continued to call for a coup.

Russian prosecutors asked Britain last March to extradite Berezovsky, who helped Putin to power during the last days of former President Boris Yeltsin's rule.

Reuters AKJ DB1114