MI6 spy exposed by Russian secret service

A British diplomat was named by Russia yesterday as an MI6 agent in the latest twist in Moscows row with London over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.

London, Aug.16 : A British diplomat was named by Russia yesterday as an MI6 agent in the latest twist in Moscow's row with London over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the KGB's domestic successor, claimed that the diplomat had recruited Vyacheslav Zharko, a shadowy figure who has played a small but significant cameo in the Litvinenko saga since he "confessed" to working for British intelligence in June.

According to The Telegraph, Zharko alleged that he approached MI6 in 2002 at the suggestion of Litvinenko, who had defected to London and was living under the protection of his friend, the tycoon and prominent Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky.

Zharko made his claims shortly after Andrei Lugovoi, wanted in Britain in connection with the defector's murder, alleged that Litvinenko and Berezovsky worked for MI6. Lugovoi also alleged that MI6 had colluded with Mr Berezovsky in the murder.

Moscow has refused to extradite Lugovoi, a decision that dragged Anglo-Russian relations to their lowest point since the Cold War and prompted a wave of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.

It is not the first time that Moscow has accused the diplomat, whose identity The Daily Telegraph has chosen not to reveal.

The FSB claims he handled a Russian defence ministry colonel, Sergei Skripal, who was jailed for 13 years for espionage in 2006. He also allegedly recruited another former security officer, Valery Oyamaye, in 2001. Mr Omaye is serving a seven-year term for spying for Britain and Estonia.

It is unclear where the diplomat is working now. The British Foreign Office has declined to comment.

ANI