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LONDON (AFP)

Exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky won £150,000 ($220,000, 165,000 euros) in libel damages on Wednesday over a claim he was linked to the murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko.

A judge in London said there was “no evidence” that Berezovsky — a fierce critic of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — was behind the poisoning by radiation of Litvinenko in 2006.

“I can say unequivocally that there is no evidence before me that Mr. Berezovsky had any part in the murder of Mr. Litvinenko,” said judge David Eady, handing down his ruling at the High Court.

“Nor, for that matter, do I see any basis for reasonable grounds to suspect him of it,” he added.

Berezovsky, a billionaire, was granted political asylum in Britain in 2003.

The case focuses on claims made on a news programme broadcast on RTR Planeta, a Russian television channel available in Britain via satellite.

Kremlin critic Litvinenko died after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium in a London hotel in November 2006, triggering a major chill in Anglo-Russian ties, made worse by Moscow’s refusal to extradite a key suspect.

Berezovsky was an influential power broker in Russia in the early post-Soviet years but fell out with the Kremlin after Putin became president in 2000.

The tycoon had told the court that Litvinenko, whom he knew as Sasha, had twice saved his life, and their shared history as exiles and opponents of Putin and the FSB — the successor to the KGB — had cemented their friendship.

He said the “absolutely outrageous” allegation that he had played a part in Litvinenko’s death risked damaging his reputation.

After the ruling, he said: “I have no doubt that, in making this programme, the purpose of RTR and the Russian authorities was to undermine my asylum status in the UK and to put the investigation of Sasha Litvinenko’s murder on the wrong track.

“I am pleased that the court, through its judgment, has unequivocally demolished RTR’s claims.”

He added: “I trust the conclusions of the British investigators that the trail leads to Russia, and I hope that one day justice will prevail.”

A lawyer for the state-run Russian television company VGTRK, of which RTR Planeta is a part, said it rejected the ruling as it had not taken part in the case and it promised to contest the decision in the European courts.

“VGTRK was not allowed to participate in the case due to its refusal to reveal the source of its information (in the report),” lawyer Zoya Matviyevskaya told Russian news agencies.

The judge in London conceded that Berezovsky’s reputation in Russia was extremely mixed, even before the programme at the heart of the case was broadcast.

“It would be unreal to ignore the fact that, in the eyes of many people, including Russian speakers living in this country, Mr. Berezovsky has acquired the reputation of a criminal on the run from Russian justice.

“He has been sentenced to 13 years imprisonment in his absence,” judge Eady said.

He added that, conversely, Berezovsky “is seen by others as a political dissident who is working for justice and democratisation” and “many see the criminal proceedings against him as politically motivated”.

Moscow has repeatedly sought Berezovsky’s extradition since he was granted political asylum in Britain in 2003, but London has refused.