Leonid Nevzlin: In thick of things

Jerusalem, Nov. 25 (PTI): Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko had met Russia-born businessman Leonid Nevzlin in Israel and passed on classified information which can be damaging to the Russian government, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported today.

Nevzlin, former CEO of Russia’s Yukos Oil Company and currently chairman of the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv, has alleged that Litvinenko’s death may be tied to the information relating to the oil company contained in the documents, Haaretz said.

The former Yukos CEO has turned the documents over to the London Metropolitan Police who are investigating the murder.

The Russian government has issued an arrest warrant against Nevzlin on charges of tax evasion, budget irregularities and in connection with the murder of the mayor of a Siberian town where Yukos was operating, the paper said.

Nevzlin and his business partner Michael Hodrokovsky, who is currently in a Russian prison, were formerly large shareholders in Yukos, one of the world’s largest oil companies.

Today, Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja said it was in Russia’s interest for the murder to be solved.

One analyst suggested that Putin himself was the target of the plot. “Litvinenko had all the time in the world, knowing he was dying, to tell everything he knew. If they wanted him dead they would have used cyanide or ricin,” Eric Kraus, a Russian commentator, said.

“It should be very clear that the net effect of this is to damage Russia. Who wishes to damage Russian interests? The exiled oligarchy in London.”