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.

   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."
 
Radiation traces found at 12 locations in Britain

    LONDON, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Experts investigating the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko have found radiation traces at 12 locations, British Home Secretary John Reid said on Thursday.

    Reid revealed that 24 locations including two British Airways planes have been monitored, Sky news reported.
 
Ex-spy contact under police guard

    BEIJING, Nov. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- An Italian security expert who met with former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko the day he fell ill with radiation poisoning was under British protection and tested for contamination Tuesday, and officials ordered tests for eight people who exhibited possible symptoms.

    Mario Scaramella, the Italian security expert, who helped investigate KGB activity in Italy during the Cold War, said he met Alexander Litvinenko at a London sushi restaurant on Nov. 1.

Radioactive traces found in London

    BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Traces of radiation have been found at several more sites in London during investigations into the death of a former Russian spy, British Home Secretary John Reid said on Monday.

    Besides Alexander Litvinenko's home and a hotel and restaurant he visited on Nov. 1, the day he fell ill with radiation poisoning, "several other premises" also have the indications of radiation. But Reid didn't give the names of the places and said there was no need for public alarm.

UK police probes death of ex-Russian spy

    BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- The British police sought to investigate the death of Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former Russian KGB agent, said a British official on Sunday.

    "British policemen have gone as far as saying no more than this is a suspicious death that they are investigating and they have ruled out no option," said John Reid, the Home Secretary and Britain's most senior law enforcement official.

300 tested for radiation traces after ex-spy's death

    BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- After investigating the death of a former Russian spy, health authorities in Britain tested 300 people for traces of radiation Sunday, who are also customers of restaurant and hotel visited by radiation victim Alexander Litvinenko.

    Litvinenko, 43, a former KGB agent died Thursday of heart failure after falling gravely ill from what doctors said was poisoning by the radioactive element polonium-210.

Poisoned former Russian spy dies

    LONDON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko who was poisoned by an unknown toxic substance three weeks ago died on Thursday at the intensive care unit of London's University College Hospital (UCH).