Russia's FSB probes MI6 activities based on Lugovoi claims 

MOSCOW, June 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB)
has launched an investigation into British intelligence activities in
Russia after statements made by businessman Andrei Lugovoi against a
former FSB officer and tycoon, the service said Friday. 

Lugovoi, accused in the United Kingdom of murdering Alexander Litvinenko,
told reporters in late May that the ex-FSB officer and his former
employer, Boris Berezovsky, had been recruited by Britain's intelligence
service, known as MI6. 

The FSB earlier announced it had opened a criminal case on espionage
charges following Lugovoi's statements but without revealing details of
the case. 

"A criminal case on espionage charges has been opened after statements
made by Russian businessman Lugovoi, and additional information on the
activities of British intelligence in Russia," the spokesman said,
commenting on the previous announcement. 

The U.K. applied for Lugovoi's extradition in May to face charges of
murdering Litvinenko, but Russian prosecutors have refused to extradite
him, stating that handing over Russian nationals is against the country's
Constitution. 

Litvinenko received British citizenship shortly before his death from
radioactive poisoning in November 2006. In a deathbed note reportedly
dictated to a friend, Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin
of orchestrating his poisoning, an allegation the Kremlin dismissed as
ridiculous. 

Lugovoi, who met with Litvinenko not long before his death, said at a news
conference on May 31 that British intelligence may have been involved in
the murder and had been looking for information to discredit Putin. 

Following the FSB announcement Friday, Lugovoi said he would actively
cooperate with investigators on the espionage probe. 

"As a law-abiding citizen, I am closely cooperating with the Russian
investigators, including on issues related to protecting Russia's national
security," he told reporters in Moscow, while refusing to comment on the
new espionage case. 

Moscow has also been fruitlessly seeking the extradition of fugitive
tycoon Berezovsky on fraud charges and for trying to instigate a coup from
Britain, where he has been based since 2001 and gained citizenship in
2003. 


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