Litvinenko was British spy, says Lugovoi

The man charged by the UK with the murder of Alexander Litvinenko claimed on Thursday to have evidence that British intelligence was involved in last November's poisoning of the former KGB officer.

In a frequently sensational press conference in Moscow, Andrei Lugovoi said he was being made a scapegoat. He suggested UK intelligence services or Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian tycoon, were likely suspects in Litvinenko's death.

A confident Mr Lugovoi also alleged Litvinenko and Mr Berezovsky had become agents for MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, after moving to the UK. He claimed British agents had also unsuccessfully tried to recruit him to collect compromising material on president Vladimir Putin.

Mr Lugovoi's comments gave a further twist to the most serious diplomatic dispute between the UK and Russia since the cold war – though even the cold war era never produced an incident with quite the bizarre theatre of the Litvinenko case.

The former KGB officer-turned-businessman hit out at British demands for him to be extradited to stand trial for Litvinenko's murder. Dressed in a chalk-striped grey suit and pink shirt and tie, Mr Lugovoi addressed a phalanx of journalists and cameras in a conference carried live on Russian television. He, in essence, directed at British intelligence and Mr Berezovsky the same allegations Litvinenko made on his deathbed against Mr Putin and Russian intelligence services – that they were responsible for his poisoning with radioactive polonium-210.

The "main roles" in this "murky political story", he said, were played by "British intelligence and their agents – Berezovsky and the now deceased Litvinenko". "It is difficult to escape the thought that Litvinenko became an agent out of control of the secret services and he was eliminated – if not that by that secret service, then under its control or with its approval," Mr Lugovoi said.

Mr Berezovsky has repeatedly denied involvement in the Litvinenko murder and said on Thursday he was not an MI6 agent.

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"Everything about Mr Lugovoi's words and presentation made it obvious that he is acting on Kremlin instruction," the exiled tycoon said. "The UK authorities know very well who their MI6 agents are in the UK and so they know that I am not one of them."

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UK government sources dismissed allegations Litvinenko had been recruited by MI6 and had tried to recruit Mr Lugovoi as disinformation aimed at diverting attention away from evidence supporting the extradition request.

The Foreign Office said the Litvinenko case was a criminal not an intelligence matter, adding it expected a "constructive official response" from Russian authorities. One Whitehall source said on Thursday he believed Moscow had about a month to take action over Mr Lugovoi before the British government hardened its position diplomatically.

Mr Lugovoi was flanked by Dmitry Kovtun, a business associate with whom he met Litvinenko on the day the latter fell ill. But Mr Lugovoi insisted the two were innocent victims who themselves had been contaminated with polonium. One theory he outlined for Litvinenko's death was that it was a "mafia" hit after Litvinenko told Spanish police about Russian mafia activity in the country.

His second theory was that British intelligence was involved. But Mr Lugovoi also alleged Litvinenko had been trying to blackmail Mr Berezovsky with what Litvinenko claimed was compromising material that could jeopardise Mr Berezovsky's political asylum status. Russian politicians demanded an inquiry.