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Berezovsky confirms murder plot reports, gives no details

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U.K.-based fugitive Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky has confirmed media reports of a foiled murder plot against him, and added that police in London had prohibited him from revealing further details.
LONDON, July 18 (RIA Novosti) - U.K.-based fugitive Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky has confirmed media reports of a foiled murder plot against him, and added that police in London had prohibited him from revealing further details.

"Three weeks ago police told me a killer had been sent from Russia to kill me, and recommended that I leave the country," said the tycoon, who is facing fraud and coup attempt charges in Russia. He had said he had been targeted for assassination several times before.

Berezovsky said he stayed abroad for a week and was then informed it was safe to return. "Police asked me not to go into details about the plot," added Berezovsky, who will give a news conference in London later in the day.

Scotland Yard refused to comment on the reports.

British media said earlier Wednesday, citing law enforcement agencies, that the British intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6 had foiled a murder plot against Berezovsky and caught the suspect, whom they had been following for a week.

The suspect was expelled and banned from entering the country for 10 years.

The Times and The Sun said the plot involved an attack on Berezovsky in the prestigious Hilton Hotel in London, in Park Lane, with the alleged assassin to be accompanied by a child as cover.

Russian Ambassador Yury Fedotov told the BBC-5 radio that Berezovsky, who received a British passport in 2003, was trying to distract public attention from his political and financial machinations by spreading rumors of the murder plot.

Berezovsky was linked to Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian security service officer who was murdered in London in November. The case has soured Russian-British relations after Moscow refused to extradite former Kremlin guard officer Andrei Lugovoi, whom Scotland Yard regards as the prime suspect.

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