May 31 (Bloomberg) -- Britain's secret services were behind the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko and sought compromising material about President Vladimir Putin before the killing, said Andrei Lugovoi, the ex-KGB officer wanted in the U.K. for the crime.

Litvinenko was working for MI6 and his murder ``couldn't have happened outside the control of Great Britain's special services,'' Lugovoi told reporters in Moscow today. Before Litvinenko's death, British agents ``suggested that I collect any information that could compromise President Putin and members of his family.''

Litvinenko, a Kremlin critic, died in November after being poisoned with polonium-210, sparking an international hunt for the rare and radioactive isotope's origin, which remains a mystery. Litvinenko blamed Putin for the murder in a deathbed statement, an accusation the Russian president's spokesman Dmitry Peskov called ``absurd'' last year.

Ties between the countries have deteriorated since Britain refused to extradite Litvinenko's patron, Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, who was granted political asylum in 2003. ``Spy Murder Row Poisons Relations With Russia,'' the Times of London said in a front-page headline May 23, the day after U.K. authorities said they had enough evidence to charge Lugovoi.

`Criminal Matter'

``Our position is clear,'' said a U.K. Foreign Office spokeswoman who declined to be identified. ``This is a criminal matter and not an issue of intelligence,'' said a statement she read over the phone in London. ``A British citizen was killed in London and U.K. citizens and visitors were put at risk.''

The British ambassador to Russia, Tony Brenton, formally requested Lugovoi's extradition on May 28. Russia's constitution doesn't allow for extradition, though the Prosecutor General's Office has said it may try Lugovoi in Russia if Britain submits sufficient evidence.

Lugovoi said Litvinenko ``hinted'' before his death that he had information that could jeopardize Berezovsky's asylum status in the U.K., and Litvinenko said the material about Berezovsky could be bought for ``several million dollars.''

Berezovsky denied the comments and called Lugovoi a ``Kremlin mouthpiece'' in a phone interview from London today. He also rejected Lugovoi's claim that he works for the British secret service. ``MI6 knows exactly who their agents are and they know for a fact that I am not one of them,'' he said.

`Face Trial'

Berezovsky said in an e-mailed statement that Lugovoi should go to London ``and face trial in the U.K. courts'' if he ``would like to prove his innocence.''

``I do,'' Lugovoi answered when asked if he had evidence to substantiate the allegations of British involvement in the murder. He declined to elaborate.

Lugovoi, who said he met with Litvinenko twice in October, was hospitalized in Moscow with polonium poisoning after Litvinenko's death. He denied any involvement in the killing.

Lugovoi said he would give Russian investigators information on the British secret services' request for him to collect material on Putin.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Sweetman in Moscow at msweetman@bloomberg.net; Maria Levitov in Moscow at mlevitov@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 31, 2007 09:06 EDT