Former Russian spy named Kremlin agent as 'suspect'

LONDON: Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died last week from radiation poisoning, had named from his hospital bed a "Kremlin agent" as the man he believed responsible for targeting him, a media report on Sunday said.

Litvinenko, who died after mysteriously absorbing polonium-210, a rare and highly toxic radioactive material, told The Sunday Times in his last full interview from hospital that he knew he was an "active case" for Russian intelligence.

He named the agent in charge of monitoring him as "Viktor Kirov". A man called Anatoly V Kirov worked at the Russian embassy in London, where he was listed as a diplomat, until late last year.

He is believed to have left diplomatic service in October 2005 and returned to Russia. But Litvinenko claimed just days before he died that Kirov was an intelligence agent who continued to target him.

On Saturday, anti-terrorist squad police requested that The Sunday Times hand over a tape of the interview in which Litvinenko named Kirov. Detectives from Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorist Command SO15 are on standby, if required, to travel to Moscow to interview people involved in the case.

Litvinenko's claim - though he did not accuse Kirov of any direct involvement in his poisoning - will reinforce suspicions that he was killed by an assassin with links to state intelligence. Experts believe that only an individual or organization with access to a sophisticated nuclear facility could have obtained polonium-210.

Cobra, the government's emergency committee, met on Saturday to discuss the unprecedented case and was chaired by Tony McNulty, the counter-terrorism minister. Polonium radiation was first found at Litvinenko's home in north London last Thursday.

"High doses" were later found at several sites in London and ministers fear public alarm about contamination. Police have discovered that several rooms at a hotel visited by Litvinenko were contaminated.

Litvinenko's wife Marina has already been tested for polonium contamination. "She is in the clear," said a government source.

At least 100 other people are to be tested and the National Health Service has been inundated with calls from members of the public who fear that they may be contaminated.