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Spy knew no secrets - Putin
01/02/2007 17:28 - (SA)
Moscow - President Vladimir Putin, accused
by former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko of ordering his
murder, said the ex-agent knew no official secrets and had no
reason to flee Russia.
Litvinenko, a London-based Kremlin critic, died from
radiation poisoning in hospital last year. The Kremlin has
dismissed the allegations as nonsense.
During an annual news conference, Putin said Litvinenko had
been sacked from Russia's security services and prosecuted for
abusing his position and stealing explosives.
"But there was no need to flee anywhere. He did not carry
any secrets at all," Putin said.
"Whatever negative comments he had about his old job, he had
already said everything. "There could be nothing new in his
words. Only an investigation can establish what happened."
Litvinenko became a close friend of Russian tycoon Boris
Berezovsky, a businessman who fell foul of the Kremlin and left
Russia for London in 2000 where he leads a dissident group of
vocal opponents to Putin. 'Runaway oligarchs'
"As far as those people who try to harm Russia, we all know
who they are," Putin told journalists in an apparent reference
to Berezovsky.
"These are people hiding from the Russian justice system for
crimes ... mainly in the economic sphere. They are so-called
runaway oligarchs."
Russian media and politicians have argued that it was
Berezovsky who had most to gain from Litvinenko's murder by
trying to discredit Putin.
"But I do not believe all that much in the conspiracy
theory," Putin said, adding that Russia's strength as a state
enabled him to dismiss such allegations.
British detectives investigating Litvinenko's death said on
Wednesday they had handed a file on the case to prosecutors.
- Reuters
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