Kremlin linked to murder of exile

THE Kremlin was behind the murder of a Russian exile in London as well as the poisoning of a former double agent, a friend of both men has claimed.

Police insist they have discovered no connection between the strangling of former businessman Nikolai Glushkov, 68, at his London home last Monday and the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury a fortnight ago.

But Alex Goldfarb, a friend of both men as well as a prominent critic of Russia, insisted President Vladimir Putin must have ordered both hits.

Mr Goldfarb told BBC Radio 4: “There is no connection in a forensic sense probably, but if you look at the larger picture of politics, I am convinced that no murder of this sort could have happened without the personal approval of Putin or some of his immediate deputies.”

Mr Goldfarb was also close to former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was murdered with radioactive polonium-210 in London, and exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who was found dead at his Surrey home in suspicious circumstances.

“All of these in my view have the common denominator of Mr Putin flexing his muscle,” said Mr Goldfarb, a scientist who lives in New York.

Residents near Mr Glushkov’s home in New Malden, South West London, believe he was strangled with a dog lead – possibly belonging to his pet.

Russian dissident Vladimir Ashurkov, 46, said: “I know somebody who knew him and who was at his home shortly after he was found dead. He told me he had no doubt he had been strangled and the instrument of death was a dog leash.”

Mr Glushkov’s body was discovered late on Monday by his daughter Natalia, 34, a socialite and student.

Last night, Natalia was said to be under police protection.

I AM CONVINCED THAT NO MURDER OF THIS SORT COULD HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT THE PERSONAL APPROVAL OF PUTIN

Russia announced on Saturday it was expelling 23 British diplomats and threatened further retaliatory measures in a growing diplomatic dispute over a nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain.

Britain’s government said the move was expected, and that it didn’t change its conviction that Russia was behind the poisoning of the ex-agent.

Meanwhile, Russians have begun voting in a presidential election set to give Mr Putin a commanding victory that could only be blemished if large numbers do not bother taking part because the result is so predictable.