Former Russian Agent Remains In Intensive Care

Aleksandr Litvinenko, pictured in a London hospital on November 20 (epa)

November 21, 2006 -- Aleksandr Litvinenko, a former Russian FSB agent and critic of President Vladimir Putin, remains in serious condition in the intensive-care unit of a London hospital today following a poisoning three weeks ago.

Doctors say Litvinenko was poisoned with thallium and that he has a 50 percent chance of surviving.

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the Kremlin have rejected allegations of any involvement.

Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who like Litvinenko has been granted political asylum in the United Kingdom and who is also a vocal critic of the Kremlin, visited Litvinenko on November 20.

"It's not possible for the intelligence services of this country to protect its citizens before the [British] government recognizes that they speak to bandits, not to civil, intellectual people and that Putin is on top of this criminal [organization] of Russia," Berezovsky told reporters as he was leaving the hospital.

(compiled from agency reports)