An international arrest warrant has been issued by Russia for one of president Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critics, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, on suspicion that he ordered a contract killing.

Russia will soon send a team to Britain to investigate the poisoning death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, the country’s top prosecutor said today in a television interview.

A court declared oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty of an array of charges today in a trial widely criticised as politically motivated, sentencing him to nine years in prison minus time served.

A Moscow court has today declared tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty of an array of charges including fraud and tax evasion, and sentenced him to nine years in prison minus time already served.