PRESSURE ON RUSSIA MOUNTS OVER POISONING OF DISSIDENT

MI5 has been warning the Blair government for at least three years that Russian spies have been operating with impunity inside the UK.

Intelligence sources revealed their fears after the death of dissident former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko from radioactive poisoning.

The apparent murder of Litvinenko - which has been blamed by many on the Kremlin - has also raised serious concerns about British national security. Tomorrow, the Conservative shadow home secretary David Davis is to demand answers about how polonium-210, the substance believed to have killed Litvinenko, was brought into Britain.

Friends of Litvinenko last night told the Sunday Herald that if the UK and US did not act against Russia they should be considered culpable in the deaths of dissidents.

Oleg Gordievsky, the most famous KGB defector to Britain and friend of Litvinenko, said: "Blair and Bush were happy to kiss and embrace Putin while he was killing in Chechnya, killing in Russia and now killing abroad."