"Aulov had called the gangster 78 times" - 'Lies from start to finish': Russian official denies any part in Litvinenko murder | World news | The Guardian
Speaking to the Guardian from the Moscow headquarters of the Russian Drugs Control Agency, Ivanov said the six-month inquiry was a “well-crafted political order”. “It’s lies from start to finish”, he said. He admitted, however, that his deputy, Nikolai Aulov, had been in regular contact with Gennady Petrov, a top Russian mafia boss living in Spain. The inquiry heard that Litvinenko may have been murdered for exposing links between top Russian officials and Russian organised crime figures in Spain. In a recent court document, Spanish prosecutors alleged that Aulov had called the gangster 78 times. Ivanov said that after he asked Aulov to explain himself, his deputy said he did know Petrov – having initially helped put him behind bars in 1992 and later using him as a source. “He doesn’t deny that there were contacts but not the kind of contact that they are claiming. Petrov provided operationally useful information on a number of topics. The rest is made up,” said Ivanov. '