New turn in Litvinenko murder case

Moscow, May 31 (UNI) Andrei Lugovoi, key Russian suspect in the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, disclosed today that British special services tried to recruit him to gather information to compromise President Vladimir Putin and his family.

"Attempts were made to openly recruit me as a British intelligence service agent. They in fact suggested that I collect any information that could compromise President Putin and members of his family," Lugovoi said at a press conference here.

Litvinenko, living in political exile in London, had accused Mr Putin in his dying statement, of plotting his murder, a charge repeatedly denied by the Kremlin. Litvinenko died in a London hospital on November 23.

Lugovoi also disclosed that Litvinenko and Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, currently living in exile in London, worked for the British secret services.

"Today, I would like to make an announcement, which should shed some light on this dark political story, where the main roles were played by the British secret service and their agents Berezovsky and the late Litvinenko," Lugovoi said.

Russia has unsuccessfully been seeking extradition of Berezovsky, accused of fraud and corruption, from Britain where he is living since 2001 and received British citizenship in 2003.

Britain has officially requested Russia to extradite Lugovoi to face charges in Litvinenko's murder.

Russian prosecutors have refused to extradite Lugovoi, saying it was against Russian constitution. They have also denied any possibility of swapping Lugovoi for Berezovsky.

Lugovoi, a businessman and former colleague of Litvinenko, said he was ready to face Russian justice if the prosecutors found the evidence supplied by their British prosecutors sufficient to charge him.

He added that he and his colleague Dmitry Kovtun, another former spy-turned-businessman and a witness in the Litvinenko case, were victims rather than witnesses in the case.

"We maintain a clear position that we are not only innocent, but are victims," Lugovoi noted.

Meanwhile, the British embassy in Moscow, said today that British secret services had nothing to do with the Litvinenko case.

''The Litvinenko case is a criminal offence, not an intelligence issue,'' an embassy official told Interfax news agency while commenting on Lugovoi's allegations that British secret services might have been behind Litvinenko's murder.

UNI