Russia 'ready' to cooperate in Litvinenko death probe

In a meeting between British foreign secretary Margaret Beckett and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Britain was given fresh assurances of Moscow’s co-operation into the investigation of the death former Russian agent Mr Litvinenko.

The British government today repeated its request for co-operation from the Russian authorities in the investigation.

Mrs Beckett had already received similar assurances from Mr Lavrov in an earlier telephone conversation.

However, the spokesman said the decision to repeat the request was not an indication of any failure to co-operate on the part of Russia.

Mrs Beckett was simply taking advantage of the fact that both were attending a forum of the G8 group of industrialised states in the Jordanian capital Amman to discuss the matter face-to-face.

Mr Blair’s spokesman said: “We will proceed in this case, as we would in any other case, on the basis of evidence. That means letting the police establish the facts first.

“But equally, the prime minister has said there will be no diplomatic or political bar to that police investigation.”

“When the questions are formulated and sent through the existing channels, we will consider them thoroughly,” the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted him as saying in Jordan.

“Now the ball is on the English side, and everything depends on the British investigators.”

British Airways said that one of the three planes grounded because of radiation tests had now been given the all-clear to return to service.

A spokeswoman added that the second jet was still grounded at Heathrow awaiting clearance, while a third was currently in Moscow and is expected to return to the UK for a radiation check.