MOSCOW. Dec 4 (Interfax-AVN) - The British authorities investigating the mysterious death of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko have officially requested assistance from Russia.
The Prosecutor General's office announced on Monday that it had received an official request from Scotland Yard for legal assistance in investigating the case.
"Given the memorandum of understanding signed in November by the Russian Prosecutor General's office and the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales on December 3, 2006, the Russian Prosecutor General's office received a request for legal assistance in relation to the criminal case opened into the death in the United Kingdom of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko," a statement issued by the office says.
The British side requested assistance in obtaining information essential for the investigation being conducted in the UK. To this end, a group of officers from the anti-terrorist division of Scotland Yard is expected in Moscow in the near future, it says.
"The Prosecutor General's Office expressed its readiness to render all necessary assistance to its British colleagues in the framework of effective international agreements and Russian law," the statement says.