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UK tried to recruit me - Lugovoi UK tried to recruit me - Lugovoi
(40 minutes later)
The man suspected of poisoning ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London last year has said the British secret service tried to recruit him.The man suspected of poisoning ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London last year has said the British secret service tried to recruit him.
Speaking at a press conference in Moscow, Andrei Lugovoi said Mr Litvinenko was not his enemy and that he had been made a scapegoat. Speaking at a Moscow press conference Andrei Lugovoi, who denies the charges, said he had been made a scapegoat.
Last week, the UK requested the extradition of Mr Lugovoi, who denies the charges, to be tried for the crime. Mr Lugovoi said MI6 had recruited Mr Litvinenko, who in turn tried to recruit him to collect information on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin says Russia's constitution does not allow it to hand him over. Last week, the UK requested Mr Lugovoi's extradition over the crime.
Mr Litvinenko died in 2006 after exposure to the radioactive isotope polonium-210. But the Russian constitution forbids it from extraditing its own citizens.
Mr Lugovoi, also an ex-KGB agent, said he was "openly recruited as the British security service agent. They asked me to collect any... compromising information about [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and the members of his family." Mr Litvinenko died in November 2006 after exposure to the radioactive isotope polonium-210.
He added that he lacked the motive to commit the crime: "Sacha [Litvinenko] was not my enemy. I didn't feel cold or hot from whatever he was doing, from the books that he was writing. I've been in business for a long time and I was not really interested." 'British involvement'
Mr Lugovoi, also an ex-KGB agent, said he was "openly recruited as the British security service agent. They asked me to collect any... compromising information about President Putin and the members of his family."
He said he was initially asked to find economic information, but he said the large fees he was paid made him realise he was being recruited to do more than that.
He went to say that he lacked the motive to kill Mr Litvinenko: "Sacha [Litvinenko] was not my enemy. I didn't feel cold or hot from whatever he was doing, from the books that he was writing. I've been in business for a long time and I was not really interested."
He also said the poisoning could not have happened without some involvement from the British intelligence services.
"Even if [British special services] hadn't done it itself, it was done under its control or connivance," he said, adding he had evidence of this, without giving details.
Mr Lugovoi said either MI6, the Russian mafia, or fugitive Kremlin opponent Boris Berezovsky carried out the killing.
"The main role," however, "is played by the British special services and their agents," he said.