Ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko requested Muslim burial: father

MOSCOW: Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence agent poisoned in London, requested before his death that he be buried according to Muslim tradition, his father said in an interview published on Monday.   

The former agent and critic of the Kremlin expressed the wish as he lay dying in his father's arms, Valter Litvinenko told the Kommersant daily.   

"He said I want to be buried according to Islamic tradition. I said okay son. It will be as you wish. We already have one Muslim in our family. The important thing is to believe in the Almighty. God is one," he said in the interview.   

Valter Litvinenko said he was sure that President Vladimir Putin was involved in the death a view apparently voiced by the former agent himself in a letter before his November 23 death and rejected claims that former Russian agents may have been responsible.   

"No kind of veterans organisation would dare to kill a former secret service member. There was an order right from the top to kill my son," Valter Litvinenko said.   

"I am in no doubt that this was done by members of the Russian secret services, with the permission of Vladimir Putin," he said.

Russian authorities have denied any involvement in Litvinenko's death.   

The father added that he would return to Russia after burying his son, although he considered that returning was not without danger.  

Separately, Russia's foreign ministry said on Monday that British investigators had been issued with visas to come to Russia to pursue their inquiries into Litvinenko's death.