Latest report: UK police in Moscow for Litvinenko probe
Related: Poisoned former Russian spy
dies
MOSCOW,
Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Russia's top diplomat warned on Monday against politicizing
the death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko as Moscow announced
British detectives had officially requested assistance in the case.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking on a trip to
Brussels, said politicization of the case could damage relations between Russia
and Britain.
"The sole concern we are talking about today is the
need to avoid politicizing that issue," Lavrov was quoted by the Itar-Tassnews
agency as saying.
He warned against officials' involvement in fueling
the row over Litvinenko's death. "This certainly harms our relations," he said.
Commenting on reports that Russia protested against
the publication of Litvinenko's deathbed letter by British media, Lavrov said,
"Our diplomats did not and could not have received such instructions," the
Interfax news agency reported.
Litvinenko, who was a strong critic of Russian
President Vladimir Putin, accused the Kremlin of orchestrating his poisoning in
the letter. Moscow vehemently denies the accusation.
Earlier on Monday, the Russian Prosecutor General's
Office said in a statement that it had received an official request from
Scotland Yard for assistance in collecting information essential to the
investigation being conducted in Britain.
A group of Scotland Yard officers arrived in Moscow
Monday night to speak to several people who met Litvinenko around the time of
his alleged poisoning in early November, news agencies reported.
Litvinenko died of radioactive poisoning late last
month in London. Experts investigating his death have found radiation traces at
12 locations and on two British Airways planes that flow the Moscow-London
route.
An Italian security consultant who met Litvinenko the
day he fell ill has tested positive for traces of the same radioactive isotope
believed to have killed Litvinenko.
Litvinenko, who had been arrested several times, fled
to Britain with his wife and son in November 2000 and was granted asylum. He
became a British citizen last month.
Britain steps up radiation
checks
Ex-spy's death probe widening beyond
Britain
BEIJING, Dec. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- A top British official said
Sunday an inquiry into the death of a poisoned ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko,
who died in London after he was exposed to a rare radioactive element, had
expanded overseas.
"The police will follow wherever this investigation leads;
inside or outside Britain," Home Secretary John Reid told Sky News. "Over the
next few days … all of these things, I think, will widen out a little from the
circle just being here in Britain."
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