Devastated by radiation sickness and realising that he would not recover, the former Russian spy poisoned in London three weeks ago devoted his last remaining energy against the man and the Government he believed responsible for his murder.

On Tuesday, Alexander Litvinenko, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the FSB, the successor to the KGB, started to dictate from his hospital bed the final statement that he wanted to be read out on his death.

He thanked his doctors, his wife and the British Government for protecting him since his defection six years ago.

Then he turned his mind to the Kremlin, and the Russian security services that regarded him as a traitor since he accused of them of blowing up several apartment blocks in Moscow in 1999, causing 300 deaths and blaming the attacks on Chechen terrorists.

"As I lie here, I can distinctly hear the beating of the wings of the angel of death," he said. "I may be able to give him the slip but I have to say my legs do not run as fast as I would like. I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition."

"You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed. You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilised value," he said.

"You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilised men and women."

"You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people."

The statement was read out this morning outside University College Hospital by Alex Goldfarb, a fellow dissident and friend of the former security agent, who had maintained a constant assault of criticism against Mr Putin and Russia's war in Chechnya since seeking asylum in the UK in 2000.

Mr Goldfarb was joined by Walter Litvinenko, the spy's father, who arrived in London on Tuesday to be at his son's deathbed.

Walter Litvinenko, his voice uneven and body shaking, said his son had been happy in London, where as a member of the circle of the millionaire exile, Boris Berezovksy, he had joined Chechen exiles in a chorus of criticism of the Kremlin, but that "the long hand of Moscow" had put an end to his life.

"My son died yesterday and he was killed by a little tiny nuclear bomb. It was so small that you could not see it. But the people who killed him have big nuclear bombs and missiles and those people should not be trusted."

"He was very courageous when he met his death and am proud of my son. He was a very honest and good man and we loved him very much. Now he is not with us."

Calling the Government of Mr Putin, "a mortal danger to the world", Mr Litvinenko said: "Sasha fought this regime. He understood it, and this regime got him and he is not with us any more... If we let this go, if we go about our business as usual, this regime will get to all of us."

The father of the former security agent said he hoped that the street where his son was born, in the Caucasus city of Voronezh, would be named after him.

"If this regime falls, and I think it will fall, because a regime with no morality and conscience is doomed, then the street where Alexander was born in the city of Voronezh will be named after him," he said. "He will always be in our hearts and in the hearts of the Russian people."

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