Britain politicises Litvinenko murder case: Lavrov

Moscow, June 1 (UNI) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today accused Britain of politicising the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, saying the case was having a 'negative effect' on Russian-British relations.

''One can feel such an effect, because we see that Britain tries to use the criminal case to engineer a political campaign,'' Mr Lavrov told reporters, referring to the ongoing diplomatic row between London and Moscow over the Litvinenko case.

''We think that this affair should remain in the jurisdiction of competent authorities,'' he said.

Litvinenko died of radioactive polonium-210 poisoning, in a London hospital, last November.

Britain wants Andrei Lugovoi, a Russian businessman and former colleague of Litvineko, to be extradited for trial in London as the main accused. Russia has already rejected the extradition demand.

Meanwhile, Deputy Russian Interior Minister Arkady Yedelev told journalists today that Litvinenko once travelled to Chechnya to destroy evidence of tycoon Boris Berezovsky's financing of illegal armed groups.

''We have reliable data on Litvinenko's stay in Chechnya. He arrived there from Georgia. He was there to eliminate evidence of tycoon Boris Berezovsky's involvement in funding illegal armed groups there, and Basayev's contacts,'' Mr Yedelev said.

He added the information was obtained during an investigation into the terrorist invasion of the Russian republic of Daghestan, on the Caspian coast, from neighbouring Chechnya in 1999, and multiple terrorist attacks in Moscow, the Stavropol Territory and the southern towns of Volgodonsk and Buinaksk.

''We have found witnesses who testified Berezovsky had given several million roubles to Basayev, purportedly to have a factory repaired, were spent on weapons,'' he said.

''That done, Litvinenko came to Chechnya with instructions from Berezovsky to eliminate the witnesses,'' he said, adding, ''but Litvinenko failed to do this.'' UNI