British police and radiation experts are on alert after Russian businessman and self-exiled Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky was hit by a mystery illness at his house in Britain, local media reported on Sunday.
Berezovsky, who has been in self-exile in London since 2000, felt sick for a fortnight and flew to Israel for a check-up by his personal doctors but was given the medical all-clear, Daily Mail said.
The businessman's aides requested the experts from the Health Protection Agency last month to screen his luxury mansion at Weybridge, Surrey, and his other homes and offices, the newspaper reported.
The report said it is feared that Berezovsky "may have been the victim of a radioactive poisoning attack similar to that which killed his close friend, former Russian KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, in 2006."
The traces of polonium were found at Berezovsky's offices shortly after the death of Litvinenko, Daily Mail said. On his deathbed, Litvinenko accused then Russian president Vladimir Putin of orchestrating his death, which the Kremlin strongly denied.
The case soured the relations between Russia and Britain.
In 2007, Britain accused Russian citizen Andrei Lugovoi of poisoning Litvinenko, who had received a political refuge in Britain, with radioactive polonium and requested Moscow to extradite him for prosecution.
Russia has refused to meet the request, while reiterating its demand that Britain extradite London-based tycoon Berezovsky, wanted in Russia on charges of fraud and plotting a coup.
LONDON, February 27 (RIA Novosti)
