Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy who was murdered in London, was a thug and a thief who had no need to flee to Britain because he was so insignificant, President Putin said yesterday.

Mr Litvinenko had not been privy to state secrets and was dismissed from the FSB “for beating people during detentions when he was a security service officer and for stealing explosives”.

“He got a three-year suspended sentence and there was no need for him to flee. He had said all the negative things he could say about his service, so there could not be anything new in his actions,” he said.

Mr Putin rowed back from previous Kremlin accusations that exiled opponents of his regime were behind the murder of Mr Litvinenko and the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Mr Putin attacked “fugitive oligarchs” who had committed crimes in Russia and were hiding abroad. He said, however, that there was no evidence of a conspiracy against Russia. He declined to speculate on why Mr Litvinenko was poisoned with radioactive polonium210.

His harsh assessment came at his annual Kremlin press conference to more than 1,200 Russian and foreign journalists — a marathon that lasted three hours and 32 minutes as he responded to 65 questions. Mr Putin joked and even occasionally flirted with reporters.

Maria Solobyova, the editor of a newspaper in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, began a question on corruption with: “Hello, incomparable Vladimir Vladimirovich.” She went on: “You know everything. You can do everything — how are you going to save us from these bandits?”

When another young female journalist from Murmansk invited him to go skiing at a local resort, Mr Putin asked her name and whether she was making a personal invitation.

However, Mr Putin, 54, repeatedly ducked attempts to get him to name a favoured successor or to say what he would do after his second term ended in March next year.

He remains popular, but the Constitution bars him from seeking a third term. He rejected Western criticism that Russia was using energy as a weapon, after confrontations with Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia. Mr Putin said Russia was simply seeking fair prices.

He triggered renewed nervousness in the European Union, however, over its dependence on Russian energy by commenting favourably for the first time on setting up an Opec-style group of gas producers. Russia, the world’s top gas exporter, has recently held talks with Iran and Algeria, both major producers.

He threatened a response to American plans to establish antimissile defence systems in Eastern Europe, saying Russia did not believe Washington’s claim that they were to counter threats from Iran or terrorists.

Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy who was murdered in London, was a thug and a thief who had no need to flee to Britain because he was so insignificant, President Putin said yesterday.

Litvinenko had not been privy to state secrets and was dismissed from the Federal Security Service (FSB) “for beating people during detentions when he was a security service officer and for stealing explosives”. Mr Putin said: “He got a three-year suspended sentence and there was no need for him to flee. He had said all the negative things he could say about his service, so there could not be anything new in his actions.”

The President pulled back from previous Kremlin accusations that exiled opponents of his regime were behind the murder of Litvinenko and the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Mr Putin attacked “fugitive oligarchs” who had committed crimes in Russia and were hiding abroad. He said, however, that there was no evidence of a conspiracy against Russia. He declined to speculate on why Litvinenko was poisoned with radioactive polonium210.

It emerged this week that Russian special forces had used a picture of Litvinenko for target practice.

Mr Putin’s harsh assessment came at his annual Kremlin press conference to more than 1,200 Russian and foreign journalists — a marathon that lasted three hours and 32 minutes as he responded to 65 questions. Mr Putin joked and even flirted with reporters. Maria Solobyova, a newspaper editor from Vladivostok, began a question on corruption with: “Hello, incomparable Vladimir Vladimirovich.” She went on: “You know everything. You can do everything — how are you going to save us from these bandits?”

When another young woman journalist from Murmansk invited him to go skiing at a local resort, Mr Putin asked her name and whether she was making a personal invitation.

However, Mr Putin, 54, repeatedly ducked attempts to get him to name a favoured successor or to say what he would do after his second term ended in March next year. The Constitution bars him from seeking a third term. He rejected Western criticism that Russia was using energy as a weapon, after confrontations with Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia.

He triggered renewed nervousness in the European Union, however, over its dependence on Russian energy by commenting favourably for the first time on setting up an Opec-style group of gas producers. Russia, the world’s top gas exporter, has recently held talks with Iran and Algeria, both major producers.

Mr Putin threatened a response to US plans to establish antimissile defence systems in Eastern Europe, saying Russia did not believe Washington’s claim that they were to counter threats from Iran or terrorists.

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