A Russian suspected of murdering the dissident spy Alexander Litvinenko has insisted that he had been framed by the British Government and the billionaire businessman Boris Berezovsky.

Andrei Lugovoy said that he was innocent but would not travel to London to defend himself against a charge that he poisoned Mr Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210 in November.

Mr Lugovoy, a former Kremlin KGB guard, renewed his allegation that Mr Litvinenko was working for British intelligence. He accused the British Secret Service of fabricating evidence of his involvement in the murder.

“There is no evidence, there is no proof. Everything that the Crown Prosecution Service says is a lie inspired by the British leadership together with the special services,” Mr Lugovoy said in a video conference from Moscow with journalists in Britain.

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Multimedia

• Full video of interview with Marina Litvinenko

BACKGROUND

• Lies and the spies: I must have justice

• Shadowy ex-KGB major takes cover

• Of course the Russians did it. They’re the experts

• The Litvinenko File

• Litvinenko was told that he was marked for death

Related Links

• Putin critic charged with stealing $13m

• Kremlin plays it cool as Litvinenko row heats up

• In Russia: Lugovoy revels in spotlight

Asked directly whether he had killed Mr Litvinenko, he replied: “I openly and honestly say that I did not kill him.”

Mr Lugovoy, who runs a private security company, blamed Mr Berezovsky for the death of Mr Litvinenko and the murder in Moscow last October of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, He said that the deaths were part of a “thoroughly planned provocation” to damage Russia’s image.

Mr Berezovsky has political asylum in Britain and has called for the overthrow of President Putin’s regime.

Mr Lugovoy’s claim came two days after Russia’s Prosecutor-General, Yuri Chaika, accused an unnamed Russian living abroad of sponsoring Ms Politkovskaya’s death. Ten people, including five linked to Russian security services, have been arrested for her murder.

Mr Lugovoy’s latest public appearance also coincided with an interview in the government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta given by the head of the investigation committee at the General Prosecutor’s Office. Alexander Bastrykin said that Russia had not received any evidence from Britain to demonstrate Mr Lugovoy’s guilt.

He added: “Those documents we have are full of blank spaces and contradictions.”

Mr Lugovoy claimed that Mr Berezovsky and Mr Litvinenko had access to polonium-210 and “were preparing something”, though he offered no details. He said that no traces of radiation were found on his return flight from London to Moscow and that polonium-210 could have been planted in other places that he visited.

Mr Litvinenko, a former officer in the FSB, the restyled KGB, claimed on his death bed that President Putin had ordered his murder in retaliation for his fierce criticism of the Kremlin. Russia has denied any involvement but the death of Mr Litvinenko and the dispute over Mr Lugovoy has plunged relations with Britain to their worst since the end of the Cold War.

Russia rejected a British request to hand over Mr Lugovoy in July, citing a constitutional ban on extradition. London responded by expelling four Russian diplomats and Moscow retaliated by ordering four British envoys to leave.

In often rambling replies to journalists’ questions today, Mr Lugovoy called himself a “patriot” and talked about Russia’s energy resources, the Cold War and national pride. He said: “Russia is a leading power. We rose from our knees. Whether you like it or not you have to take us seriously.”

Mr Lugovy was joined at the press conference by Dmitri Kovtun, a Russian businessman and former KGB agent who also met Mr Litvinenko in London.

Mr Kovtun challenged Britain to present its evidence in Moscow. He disclosed that Germany had revoked a residence permit given during a former marriage to a German citizen.

German police are investigating Mr Kovtun for illegally transporting radiation after traces of polonium-210 were found in apartments he visited in Hamburg shortly before joining Mr Lugovoy in London to meet Mr Litvinenko.

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