Moscow, 2 August: The former director of the Russian FSB [Federal Security Service] and chairman of the State Duma committee for veterans' issues, Nikolay Kovalev, believes that "the Litvinenko case" or "the Lugovoy case" should be more correctly called "the Berezovskiy case".

"And now there is the Litvinenko case, or more correctly, the Lugovoy case. Although it would be even more correct to call it the Berezovskiy case," Kovalev told Interfax.

"It is now absolutely clear that [former FSB officer] Aleksandr Litvinenko worked for [London-based tycoon-in-exile] Boris Berezovskiy and concurrently played some personal games, which most likely had something to do with his murder. However, it is possible that it was not a murder but an accident," he said.

"At his news conference in May [main suspect in Litvinenko murder case Andrey] Lugovoy said that Berezovskiy had been recruited by the British special services. We cannot judge now whether it is true or not. But even apart from that, Russian law-enforcement agencies have many questions for Berezovskiy," Kovalev said. [Passage omitted: Kovalev lists known charges against Berezovskiy]

"At the same time Berezovskiy lives quietly in London as a political immigrant, and the leaders of our opposition and radical parties and organizations openly go to him for financing. So the British special services do not even need much time to find someone to help them with their activity: these people are all plainly visible in Berezovskiy's house," Kovalev said.

Kovalev also criticized the activity of the British Council in Russia. "It is a non-commercial and officially public organization which formally declares that its goal is cooperation in the sphere of science, culture and education. But what is it in practice? In practice it actively contributes to the outflow of promising Russian young people abroad, sending them to study in the UK. As it has been proved by the case of a Russian citizen who was recruited in 2000, one can get in contact with agents of the British special services through the British Council without any difficulty," Kovalev said.