State Duma Deputy Andrei Lugovoi, accused by Britain in the poisoning death of former Federal Security Service agent Alexander Litvinenko, said he has given evidence to a London court about Britain's decision to grant asylum to businessman Boris Berezovsky.
"Earlier this year I was contacted by British lawyers who took my testimony as a witness regarding the circumstances in which Mr. Berezovsky received asylum in Britain," Lugovoi said in an interview published Friday in Rossiiskaya Gazeta. "I duly testified in detail, and in March my testimony was presented to the court. It is currently being considered."
Lugovoi said he believed that Berezovsky, who lives in self-imposed exile in London and is wanted on fraud and other charges by Russia, claimed asylum fraudulently.
He also said he had no plans to travel to Britain to testify in person. "I am not an idiot, and I am not going to go there to be arrested," he said.
(MT)
