Russia accuses British intelligence in spy case

MOSCOW: Russia accused Britain's MI6 intelligence service on Tuesday of trying to recruit a Russian national, who was said to have turned to Russian authorities out of fear for his life.

"The person admitted to collaborating with British secret services," Sergei Ignatchenko, a spokesman for Russia's FSB secret service, said on broadcast comments.

"The individual named agents, as well as the cities and countries where secret meetings were arranged. He said he came to the FSB because he was afraid for his life," Ignatchenko said.

The British embassy in Moscow could not immediately be reached for comment.    

Ignatchenko said the Russian national had come forward following a press conference in Moscow by Andrei Lugovoi, the man accused by Britain of murdering former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London last year.

At the press conference last month, Lugovoi alleged that the British secret service were involved in the murder of Litvinenko and had tried to recruit him to find compromising material against President Vladimi Putin.