Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov strongly denied claims that Russia's intelligence service was involved in the death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

 

"I rule out this possibility and see no sense in it. I was not personally acquainted with Litvinenko, but I know that he worked in a division of the Federal Security Service (FSB) which dealt with organized crime," Ivanov said while interviewed by Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, the transcript of the interview being posted on the ministry's website on Tuesday.

 

Litvinenko died of radioactive poisoning on Thursday in London, after being exposed to polonium 210. British police are studying CCTV footage from security cameras after finding radioactive traces at three separate London locations visited by Litvinenko.

 

Litvinenko was an open critic of the FSB and had been arrested several times. He fled to Britain with his wife and son in November 2000 and was granted asylum, becoming a British citizen last month.

 

Shortly before his death, he accused the Kremlin of orchestrating his poisoning, an accusation Moscow vehemently denies.

 

An official of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying on Tuesday that the office "is ready to assist Scotland Yard in its investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death" of Litvinenko. As of yet, Russia had not received any requests from Britain, the official added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2006)