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British police thwart plot to kill Putin: report
London, Oct 19: British police have thwarted a plot to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin after arresting a renegade Russian intelligence agent in London, the Sunday Times reported.
London, Oct 19: British police have thwarted a
plot to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin after arresting
a renegade Russian intelligence agent in London, the Sunday
Times reported.
"This is a criminal investigation into something that
has an international dimension," a senior British government
official was quoted as saying by the weekly newspaper.
"It's a matter for Scotland Yard who are taking it seriously," the unnamed source reportedly said.
According to the Sunday Times, detectives from Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch arrested a former KGB Major, said to be a trained hitman, and a second Russian after a tip-off last weekend.
The would-be assassins were reportedly held for five days at a police station in west London under Britain's anti-terrorist legislation and questioned about possible links to Chechen guerrillas.
Police were alerted by Alexander Litvinenko, a former intelligence officer in Russia's FSB, the main successor to the KGB.
Litvinenko told the Sunday Times that the hitmen had asked him to set up a meeting with Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky who fled Russia in November 2000 after falling out with Putin.
Berezovsky, who was granted political asylum by Britain last month, told the newspaper that he and Litvinenko were called to a meeting with their lawyer at Scotland Yard on Friday.
Bureau Report
"It's a matter for Scotland Yard who are taking it seriously," the unnamed source reportedly said.
According to the Sunday Times, detectives from Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch arrested a former KGB Major, said to be a trained hitman, and a second Russian after a tip-off last weekend.
The would-be assassins were reportedly held for five days at a police station in west London under Britain's anti-terrorist legislation and questioned about possible links to Chechen guerrillas.
Police were alerted by Alexander Litvinenko, a former intelligence officer in Russia's FSB, the main successor to the KGB.
Litvinenko told the Sunday Times that the hitmen had asked him to set up a meeting with Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky who fled Russia in November 2000 after falling out with Putin.
Berezovsky, who was granted political asylum by Britain last month, told the newspaper that he and Litvinenko were called to a meeting with their lawyer at Scotland Yard on Friday.
Bureau Report