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RUSSIA: AUTHORIZES UK POLICE TO TRAVEL TO MOSCOW December 4, 2006
Zainab Osman
(SomaliNet) Russia has cleared the way for British detectives who are probing the mystery poisoning of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died of radioactive poisoning, to visit Moscow on Monday.
Litvinenko’s friends told the British investigators to insist on seeing another ex-KGB agent, now in jail, who had "substantive information" of use to them. The detectives will question witnesses who met with the deceased before his illness. Litvinenko accused Mr. Putin of ordering his slow death; this has further strained the relationship between Britain and Russia.
However, Russia has strongly denied any such claims; the former KGB agent was a strong critic of the Russian government.
The foreign ministry in Moscow confirmed on Monday that visas has been issued to Scotland Yard investigators and the Russia's general prosecutor's office offered to cooperate.
"The general prosecutor of the Russian Federation has expressed readiness to provide all necessary help to British colleagues within the framework of international agreements and the law of the Russian Federation," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Litvinenko met Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB agent, and Dmitry Kovtun at London's Millennium Hotel on Nov. 1, the day he fell ill. But Lugovoy, now back in Moscow, says they discussed a business opportunity and he denies anything to do with an attempt on Litvinenko's life.