MOSCOW - A Russian businessman, who met ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko in London the day he was taken ill, said on Friday he had nothing to do with his death.
Litvinenko, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, died in hospital on Thursday, accusing the Russian leader in a statement issued after his death of involvement in his murder.
Litvinenko, a naturalised British citizen, fell ill on November 1 after meeting two Russian businessmen, including former KGB officer Andrei Lugovoy, at a London hotel, and an Italian academic at a downtown sushi bar.
"I know Litvinenko mentioned my name," Lugovoy told Ekho Moskvy radio, referring to media reports on who Litvinenko met that day. "But I am pretty sure he did not link me in any way to the poisoning."
"I can say for sure he did not order any food or drinks and we did not offer anything to him," Lugovoy said.
Lugovoy said that it was Litvinenko who requested the meeting with him and his business partner Dmitry Kovtun.
"I first met with Dmitry on our own project and after that we called Alexander," Lugovoy recalled. " ... it was he who suggested that we should meet. He insisted: 'Let us make it today, I need to talk to you'."
He said he and Litvinenko met each other in the 1990s when Lugovoy worked as security chief at Russia's Public Television. He said it was Litvinenko who contacted him in 2005 to offer his services in establishing contacts with British companies.
He said they only discussed business at their brief meeting, which ended with a decision to meet again the next day.
"At 8:30 a.m. on November 2 he called me," Lugovoy said. "He told me: 'Andrei, I feel unwell, have stomach problems, vomit all the time. I don't think I can make it to the meeting'."
Lugovoy said he spoke with Litvinenko again on November 7 and November 13, when the latter was already in hospital. He viewed the conversation as proof that Litvinenko did not suspect him.
"We spoke for about two minutes, his voice was already strained," Lugovoy said about their last conversation. "He said he was sure he was poisoned. He said his symptoms could not be explained otherwise."
Lugovoy said that immediately after hearing his name being connected to Litvinenko's death, he contacted the British embassy in Moscow, gave his account of the last meeting and promised cooperation with investigators.
Russia's state-controlled television, which is firmly under the Kremlin's thumb, has given daily coverage of the scandal.
But in their broadcasts main state TV channels have offset bad publicity for the Kremlin by quoting analysts casting doubt on charges of Moscow involvement in his poisoning and saying there could be several reasons for his illness.
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