Kremlin "spreading lies" about murder -Berezovsky

MOSCOW, May 31 (Reuters) Allegations that British intelligence had a hand in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko are baseless and orchestrated by the Kremlin, a leading Litvinenko associate told Russian radio today.

Andrei Lugovoy, the man Britain wants to put on trial for Litvinenko's poisoning, said he believes British secret services and Boris Berezovsky, a wealthy Kremlin opponent now living in Britain, were involved in Litvinenko's murder.

''Andrei Lugovoy's statement is, in essence, a Kremlin statement,'' Berezovsky, a multi-millionaire businessman who was a pall bearer at Litvinenko's funeral, told Ekho Moskvy radio station in a telephone interview.

''This statement makes everything clear, it has become obvious that the whole campaign the Kremlin is staging around Litvinenko's murder is a campaign of state lies.'' REUTERS PJ BD1840