LONDON - British detectives are investigating claims by a Russian former double agent of an assassination attempt against him, police told The Mail on Sunday newspaper. Oleg Gordievsky, a high-profile Cold War defector, claims he was poisoned by another former Russian intelligence agent just weeks after he was highly decorated by BritainÂ’s Queen Elizabeth II for his services to BritainÂ’s security.The former Soviet colonel claimed he was next on the hit list following the November 2006 radiation poisoning murder of Alexander Litvinenko, which plunged relations between Britain and Russia to a post-Cold War low.
Gordievsky, who was the London bureau chief of the KGB Soviet intelligence agency and defected in 1985, accused the British authorities of wanting to keep the episode covered up. He claims he was visited by a Russian man at his safe-house in the county of Surrey, south-west of London.
The ex-spy was taken by ambulance from his home to a hospital in the town of Guildford. “Surrey Police was called to an address in Surrey on November 2, 2007 at around 11:30 am following concerns for the safety of a man,” a spokeswoman said. “The man, who was 69 at the time, was taken by ambulance to the Royal Surrey County Hospital for treatment.
“Surrey Police is continuing to investigate allegations made by this man and it would not be appropriate to comment further until our investigation is complete.”
He lay unconscious and “close to death” for 34 hours and spent two weeks recuperating. He was initially left partially paralysed and still has no feelings in his fingers, The Mail on Sunday reported.
“I’ve known for some time that I am on the assassination list drawn up by rogue elements in Moscow,” Gordievsky told the weekly tabloid. “They murdered my friend Alexander Litvinenko. I have no doubt my sudden illness last November was a similar attempt on my life. It was obvious to me that I had been poisoned.
He said Moscow-authored poisonings were based on their difficulty to detect, citing the deaths of Litvinenko and others.