THE former Russian spy who died last week from radiation poisoning named a senior Kremlin agent as the man he believed responsible for targeting him.

Alexander Litvinenko, who died after mysteriously absorbing polonium210, a rare and highly toxic radioactive material, said in his last full interview from hospital that he knew he was an “active case” for Russian intelligence.

He named the agent in charge of monitoring him as “Viktor Kirov”. A man called Anatoly V Kirov worked at the Russian embassy in London, where he was listed as a diplomat, until late last year.

He is believed to have left the diplomatic service in October 2005 and returned to Russia. But Litvinenko claimed just days before he died that Kirov was an intelligence agent who continued to target him.

Yesterday, antiterrorist squad police requested that The Sunday Times hand over a tape of the interview in which Litvinenko named Kirov. Detectives from Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorist Command SO15 are on standby, if required, to travel to Moscow to interview people involved in the case.

Litvinenko’s claim — though he did not accuse Kirov of any direct involvement in his poisoning — will reinforce suspicions that he was killed by an assassin with links to state intelligence. Experts believe that an individual or organisation with access to a sophisticated nuclear facility could have obtained polonium210.

Cobra, the government’s emergency committee, met yesterday to discuss the unprecedented case and was chaired by Tony McNulty, the counter-terrorism minister. Polonium radiation was first found at Litvinenko’s home in north London last Thursday.

“High doses” were later found at several sites in London and ministers fear public alarm about contamination. Police have discovered that several rooms at a hotel visited by Litvinenko were contaminated.

Litvinenko’s wife Marina has already been tested for polonium contamination. “She is in the clear,” said a Whitehall source. At least 100 other people are to be tested, and NHS Direct has been inundated with calls from members of the public who fear they may be contaminated.

The investigation into Litvinenko’s death threatens to have serious diplomatic repercussions. Kim Howells, the Foreign Office minister, said: “What everybody seems to forget is that this guy was a naturalised British citizen and they [Cobra] take a very dim view of British citizens being murdered on British streets by foreign nationals.”

The Tory party will be asking for a Commons statement from the government about the affair tomorrow.

A senior Foreign Office source said it had no indication that Moscow was behind the plot: “We don’t have any evidence to finger point.” However, British officials have formally asked the Russian embassy to provide assistance.

Yesterday an aide to President Vladimir Putin reacted strongly to suggestions of Russian involvement. “We don’t know who killed Litvinenko, but one thing is for sure, it was not the Russian state,” he said. “We’ve got nothing to hide.”

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