“I brought tea for you — English tea, from Fortnum and Mason, the very best,” chirped the financial adviser in the foyer of a plush Moscow hotel near the Kremlin. “You have a package for me, I think,” he added before scurrying off with his Russian client.

The adviser, like many of his British colleagues, has been making routine rounds to reassure clients since the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain, an attempted assassination Britain accuses the Kremlin of orchestrating.

British ministers and their Kremlin counterparts have been threatening further reprisals after retaliatory expulsions of diplomats in response to the Skripal attack.

With Anglo-Russian relations plunging to their lowest point since the Cold War, British financial advisers in Moscow had expected to encounter Russian clients anxious about Britain mounting a retaliatory financial crackdown on Russian money invested in London.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to go after the financial assets in Britain of wealthy Russians connected to the Kremlin.

But it is business as usual in Moscow.

Advisers visiting the Russian capital say oligarchs and other super-wealthy businessmen appear unconcerned, having concluded May is all bark and no bite.

Part of the reason is Britain has been reluctant in the past to use already existing legislation to probe too deeply the origins of Russian money spent in Britain, fearing it might lead to an exodus of Russian cash out of the country. Moscow investors also believe Brexit-mired Britain is going to need Russian money even more in the future and chasing it out risks also frightening super-wealthy investors from other countries.

“My clients don’t see it as a threat,” said the adviser who exchanged tea for a package of signed documents. He asked not to be identified. “Neither do we. The new measures being drafted are just repeating legislation that’s already available and will rest largely unused. What few investigations launched will take forever and then get bogged down in the courts,” he said.

Britain’s past unwillingness to investigate Russian money, and the suspicion Britain isn’t serious this time either, is not helping May convince Britain’s European allies to do more than issue statements of solidarity over the Skripal poisoning.

Norbert Röttgen, chairman of Germany’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, has highlighted the need for Britain “to examine its open stance toward Russian capital of dubious origin” before it starts asking for concrete action by Britain’s allies.

In response to doubts about their determination, British officials say they are likely to ban secretive Scottish limited partnerships that have been used to hide the true ownership of some Russian-origin money. The Scottish-based shell companies have long been a target of transparency campaigners.

May was due to brief EU leaders Thursday in Brussels on the investigation into the March 4 nerve-agent poisoning of Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. Both remain in critical condition.

May will warn Russia is a threat to Western democracy, according to British officials.

“The challenge of Russia is one that will endure for years to come,” she will say, according to extracts released in advance by her office. “As a European democracy, the United Kingdom will stand shoulder to shoulder with the European Union and with NATO to face these threats together. United we will succeed,” she will add.

EU leaders are expected to strongly condemn the attack, but fearful of push-back the British government isn’t asking EU partners to agree to fresh sanctions on Russia in addition to the Ukraine-related ones already in effect.

Behind-the-scenes, British officials have sought to persuade their European neighbors to expel undeclared spies among Russian diplomats based in their countries, say European officials.

But it is unclear whether Britain will be successful in persuading other EU countries to agree to point the finger at Moscow.

Several states, including Italy and Greece, appear eager to shield their ties with Russia and are resisting a stark statement of blame. The United States, France and Germany have said they accept Britain's assessment Russia is the only plausible culprit. But Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Austria say the accusation remains to be proven.

They are not alone, even some Putin critics in Russia question whether the Kremlin ordered the attack.

Outspoken Putin opponent Gennady Gudkov, a former KGB counter-intelligence officer, says he believes Russian intelligence has carried out overseas assassinations in recent years, but he says he "can't find rational explanations for" the attack on Skripal.

“After the so called ‘umbrella assassination’ of Georgi Markov in London in the late 1970s, the KGB decided to stop all special [assassination] operations abroad. It seems to me that today the concept has changed and some of the special operations related to the elimination of political opponents has been done with the help of the intelligence,” he told VOA.</s>Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says the Kremlin targeted the country due to London's criticism of Russian rights abuses

LONDON, United Kingdom – Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson accused Moscow on Wednesday, March 21, of trying to kill a former spy in England to whip up public opinion ahead of elections.

He said the Kremlin targeted the country due to London's criticism of Russian rights abuses.

Giving evidence to MPs, Johnson rejected Moscow's insistence that it was not involved in the nerve agent attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter on March 4.

"No matter how exactly it came to be done, the pathway, the chain of responsibility seems to me to go back to the Russian state and those at the top," he told the House of Commons foreign affairs committee.

Asked why Moscow would feel it could carry out such an attack, he said: "It was a sign that President (Vladimir) Putin, or the Russian state, wanted to give to potential defectors in their own agencies that this is what happens to you if you decide that you support a country with a different set of values such as our own (Britain): you can expect to be assassinated.

"I think the reason that they picked the United Kingdom is very simple: it's because this is a country that does have that particular set of values, it does believe in freedom, and in democracy and in the rule of law, and has time and again called out Russia over its abuses of those values."

He added that in response to Russian actions in the Western Balkans, the Baltics and Syria, whether in the European Union or United Nations "it is Britain that has been most forthright, and most obstinate in sticking up for our values".

"And I think that is probably the reason why it was decided to make this gesture here in this country," he said.

Questioned about the timing of the attack, Johnson pointed to last weekend's presidential elections, in which Putin won a fourth term.

"As many non-democratic figures do when facing an election or facing some critical political moment, it is often attractive to conjure up in the public imagination the notion of an enemy," he said.

"And that is what it was an attempt to excite among the Russian electorate."

Johnson added: "The boundaries of Moscow's dominions have been rolled back and I think Vladimir Putin feels that very keenly and he feels Russia lost out, so he wants to cause trouble wherever he can." – Rappler.com</s>London (AFP) - A British coroner on Thursday opened an inquest to establish the cause of death of Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov, who was found at his London home on March 12.

The inquest at West London Coroner's Court was told that a post-mortem discovered the 68-year-old businessman suffered from compression to the neck, suggesting he may have been strangled.

His family said Wednesday they were "devastated" by the death.

"We are devastated at the loss of Nikolai and are coming to terms with our grief," they said in a statement.

Scotland Yard opened a murder probe last week following the autopsy results.

Glushkov had received political asylum in Britain after being jailed in Russia for money laundering and fraud.

He was linked to late Kremlin opponent Boris Berezovsky, an oligarch and one-time supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was found hanged in his home outside London in 2013.

The Russian embassy in London said that it had asked British authorities for details of Glushkov's death.

The suspected murder is not believed to be linked to the nerve agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, southwest England, on March 4, which has caused a diplomatic row between the two countries.

In English law, inquests are held to examine violent, unnatural or unexplained deaths. They set out to determine the place and time of death as well as how the deceased came by their death, but do not apportion blame.</s>An inquest into the death of Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov has opened after he was murdered in his London home.

Richard Furniss, the assistant coroner at West London Coroner's Court, adjourned proceedings because of the ongoing police investigation into his death.

It was initially treated as unexplained but detectives opened a murder inquiry after a post-mortem found the 68-year-old had died of “compression to the neck”.

We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.

Mr Glushkov’s body was discovered at his home in Clarence Avenue, New Malden, on 12 March.

Coroner’s officer Gary Waple told the court police were called at 10.46pm by London Ambulance Service paramedics, who pronounced Mr Glushkov dead two minutes later.

“I have to adjourn this inquest pending further police investigation and enquiries,” Mr Furniss said, and did not set a date for the next hearing.

Counter-terror police are leading the ongoing probe because of Mr Glushkov's connection to Russian dissidents including Boris Berezovsky, who died in 2013.

At the time, Mr Glushkov said he believed his friend had been murdered, telling The Guardian: “I don’t believe Boris died of natural causes. Too many deaths [of Russian exiles] have been happening.”

Mr Berezovsky was an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin and friend of murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

His death is among up to 14 being reviewed by police and MI5 in light of the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.

Shape Created with Sketch. Skripal attack aftermath – in pictures Show all 15 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Skripal attack aftermath – in pictures 1/15 Scene of attack Members of the emergency services in hazard suits fix the tent over the bench where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March 2018. Getty 2/15 Victim - Sergei Skripal The retired Russian colonel and former double agent for MI6 was in a critical condition in hospital for more than two months after being exposed to novichok in Salisbury. He was given refuge in the UK after being jailed in Moscow for treason. Mr Skripal came to Britain as part of a high-profile “spy swap” in 2010 in which four men were exchanged for ten Russian "sleeper agents" in the US. In this image he is speaking to his lawyer from behind bars in Moscow in 2006. AP 3/15 Victim - Yulia Skripal Yulia Skripal was struck down by a novichok poison alongside her father Sergei. Facebook 4/15 Scene of attack A police officer stands guard outside a branch of the Italian chain restaurant Zizzi where the pair dined at before falling ill. It was boarded off whilst investigators worked on the building and later found traces of the chemical weapon within it. AFP/Getty 5/15 Scene of attack Large areas of central Salisbury were cordoned off by police following the discovery of the Skripals. Traces of nerve agent were also found in The Mill pub. PA 6/15 Victim - Nick Bailey Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, rushed to the aid of the Russian ex-spy and his daughter who were targeted with a nerve agent. He was hospitalized after aiding them and didn't leave until three weeks after the attack. Wiltshire Police/Rex 7/15 Police investigation - Skripal’s home Police believe they were poisoned at home, and detectives found the highest concentration of novichok on the front door of Mr Skripal’s house. Getty 8/15 Theresa May visits scene of attack Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May spokes with Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable Kier Pritchard near where the Skripal's were found. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning and suspended high-level contacts, including for the World Cup on March 14. Theresa May told parliament that Russia had failed to respond to her demand for an explanation on how a Soviet-designed chemical, Novichok, was used in Salisbury. AFP/Getty 9/15 Skripal days before attack Sergei Skripal days before he was exposed to Novichok, that has left him fighting for life. ITV News 10/15 Police investigation - military involvement British soldiers were deployed soon after the attack to help a counter-terrorism investigation into the nerve agent attack. One of the places they were asked to help out with was Skripal's home and it's surrounding. They were asked to remove a vehicle connected to the agent attack in Salisbury, from a residential street in Gillingham. AFP/Getty 11/15 Police investigation Personnel in protective coveralls and breathing equipment cover an ambulance with a tarpaulin at the Salisbury District Hospital. AFP/Getty 12/15 Police investigation The investigation extended to the grave of Sergei Skripal's son Alexander in London Road cemetery. Getty 13/15 Police investigation The Counter Terrorism Policing Network requested assistance from the military to remove a number of vehicles and objects from Salisbury. EPA 14/15 Home Secretary visits scene of attack Home Secretary Amber Rudd visited the scene of the nerve agent attack at the Maltings shopping centre on 9 March. Getty 15/15 Yulia Skripal speaks for the first time Yulia Skripal, speaking for the first time, said she felt lucky to have survived the nerve agent attack in Salisbury which left her fighting for life. Ms Skripal said her life had been “turned upside down” by the assassination attempt. But the Russian national added she hoped to return to her homeland one day, despite the Kremlin being blamed for the attack. Reuters 1/15 Scene of attack Members of the emergency services in hazard suits fix the tent over the bench where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March 2018. Getty 2/15 Victim - Sergei Skripal The retired Russian colonel and former double agent for MI6 was in a critical condition in hospital for more than two months after being exposed to novichok in Salisbury. He was given refuge in the UK after being jailed in Moscow for treason. Mr Skripal came to Britain as part of a high-profile “spy swap” in 2010 in which four men were exchanged for ten Russian "sleeper agents" in the US. In this image he is speaking to his lawyer from behind bars in Moscow in 2006. AP 3/15 Victim - Yulia Skripal Yulia Skripal was struck down by a novichok poison alongside her father Sergei. Facebook 4/15 Scene of attack A police officer stands guard outside a branch of the Italian chain restaurant Zizzi where the pair dined at before falling ill. It was boarded off whilst investigators worked on the building and later found traces of the chemical weapon within it. AFP/Getty 5/15 Scene of attack Large areas of central Salisbury were cordoned off by police following the discovery of the Skripals. Traces of nerve agent were also found in The Mill pub. PA 6/15 Victim - Nick Bailey Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, rushed to the aid of the Russian ex-spy and his daughter who were targeted with a nerve agent. He was hospitalized after aiding them and didn't leave until three weeks after the attack. Wiltshire Police/Rex 7/15 Police investigation - Skripal’s home Police believe they were poisoned at home, and detectives found the highest concentration of novichok on the front door of Mr Skripal’s house. Getty 8/15 Theresa May visits scene of attack Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May spokes with Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable Kier Pritchard near where the Skripal's were found. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning and suspended high-level contacts, including for the World Cup on March 14. Theresa May told parliament that Russia had failed to respond to her demand for an explanation on how a Soviet-designed chemical, Novichok, was used in Salisbury. AFP/Getty 9/15 Skripal days before attack Sergei Skripal days before he was exposed to Novichok, that has left him fighting for life. ITV News 10/15 Police investigation - military involvement British soldiers were deployed soon after the attack to help a counter-terrorism investigation into the nerve agent attack. One of the places they were asked to help out with was Skripal's home and it's surrounding. They were asked to remove a vehicle connected to the agent attack in Salisbury, from a residential street in Gillingham. AFP/Getty 11/15 Police investigation Personnel in protective coveralls and breathing equipment cover an ambulance with a tarpaulin at the Salisbury District Hospital. AFP/Getty 12/15 Police investigation The investigation extended to the grave of Sergei Skripal's son Alexander in London Road cemetery. Getty 13/15 Police investigation The Counter Terrorism Policing Network requested assistance from the military to remove a number of vehicles and objects from Salisbury. EPA 14/15 Home Secretary visits scene of attack Home Secretary Amber Rudd visited the scene of the nerve agent attack at the Maltings shopping centre on 9 March. Getty 15/15 Yulia Skripal speaks for the first time Yulia Skripal, speaking for the first time, said she felt lucky to have survived the nerve agent attack in Salisbury which left her fighting for life. Ms Skripal said her life had been “turned upside down” by the assassination attempt. But the Russian national added she hoped to return to her homeland one day, despite the Kremlin being blamed for the attack. Reuters

Mr Glushkov worked for Mr Berezovsky’s LogoVaz car company in Russia, before becoming the first deputy general director for Russia’s flag carrier Aeroflot in the late 1990s.

Independent news email Only the best news in your inbox Independent news email Only the best news in your inbox Enter your email address Continue Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid Email already exists. Log in to update your newsletter preferences Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive morning headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts by email Update newsletter preferences

He served a five-year term for money laundering and fraud in Russia, then fled the country after being handed a two-year suspended sentence for fraud in 2006.

Last year, he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and a 1 million ruble fine in absentia for allegedly defrauding Aeroflot – a case that continued at the time of his death.

Mr Glushkov, who has two children, was due to attend a commercial court hearing last Monday morning but did not arrive, sparking concerns among friends who later confirmed his death.

His body was reportedly found by his daughter, Natalia, who is believed to have made the first 999 call.

Mr Glushkov’s relatives issued a statement through Scotland Yard, saying: ”We are devastated at the loss of Nikolai and are coming to terms with our grief.“

Police have stressed that there is no evidence of a link between the murder and the nerve agent attack on Mr Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.

Detectives are appealing for information and no arrests have yet been made.

Russia’s official Investigations Committee has launched its own criminal investigations into the attempted murder of the Skripals and Mr Glushkov’s death.</s>LONDON — The row between the United Kingdom and Russia over a brazen nerve gas attack on a former Russian military intelligence officer and double agent living in England has laid bare an uncomfortable truth about the bilateral relationship — one that is all about money.

The government of Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May has reacted with outrage to the assault, which her government blames on the Kremlin. But skeptics say that outrage has been tempered and complicated by the vast sums of Russian money that have flooded into Britain’s financial and real estate markets in recent years.

For decades, hundreds, if not thousands, of wealthy Russians have been parking themselves and their assets — including what is widely believed to be huge coffers of dirty money — in the United Kingdom.

British officials, investment consultants, real estate agents, caterers and interior designers are among those eagerly welcoming the inflows.

There is much to lure Russians to London, said Vladimir Ashurkov, a Russian banker and opposition political figure who was granted asylum in the U.K. in 2015.

“One is its language. If Russians speak a foreign language, then it’s English,” he said. “London is a big city not too dissimilar to Moscow, and there’s already a lot of Russians here. London is the unrivaled center of business and finance in Europe, and the British education system is trusted.”

Last week, Mrs. May said she would create an action plan to retaliate against Russia for the poisoning by a Russian-developed nerve agent of Sergei Skripal, 66, who spied for the British during the 1990s and early 2000s. He and his daughter Yulia Skripal, 33, were apparently attacked while sitting on a park bench in the provincial city of Salisbury and remain in critical condition.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aides have strongly denied the accusations, but Mrs. May has kicked out 23 Russian diplomats and promised to crack down on Russian oligarchs who park money in Britain.

That could be a double-edged response, say analysts.

The British government has long been happy to take in its former spies as repayment for their service. It has also welcomed Russian dissidents, a policy it sees as a counter to an anti-Western government in Moscow. London’s financial hub, however, is known for welcoming Russian money from the vast fortunes of Mr. Putin’s close allies, and most don’t believe that will change anytime soon.

“Russia is a skillful and growing threat to the U.K., yet Russia’s elite uses the U.K., like no other country, to legitimate and protect its wealth,” Nigel Gould-Davies, an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at the Chatham House think tank, told The Associated Press this week. “A whole industry of U.K. financial, legal and related services benefits from this. They are wealthy, well-connected and benefit enormously from Russian custom.”

An estimated 59,000 people born in Russia now live in Britain, government records show.

Mr. Ashurkov, a prominent critic of what he claims are ill-gotten millions of Mr. Putin’s cronies, says some of Russian real estate holdings now rival the British royal family’s palaces.

Mr. Ashurkov, in fact, organizes bus tours around the British capital for fellow activists and journalists to showcase the czarlike opulence that the Russian oligarchy enjoys in London.

“I do it to alert British authorities about dirty money,” he said.

Take, for example, Witanhurst, London’s largest private home, surpassed in size only by Buckingham Palace. The basement alone holds a swimming pool, cinema, sauna, gym, staff quarters and parking spaces for up to 25 cars.

Mystery surrounded the owners of this North London mansion after it was purchased in 2008 for $70.2 million. Ordinarily, it’s a simple process to figure out who owns real estate: pay a fee to the Land Registry, and it will provide the name. But when properties are owned by offshore companies, as Witanhurst and many others are, it’s not so simple.

This ostentatious secrecy has a tendency to get on the nerves of locals. In 2011, town official Michael Hammerson grumbled to the Daily Mail newspaper, “We don’t want limos with smoked windows and men in dark glasses with bulging breast pockets, and the place surrounded by [closed-circuit televisions].”

In 2015, The New Yorker revealed the owner to be Andrey Guryev, the former head of one of Russia’s largest fertilizer companies.

This kind of confidentiality typifies London’s moneyed Russian population, said Mr. Ashurkov, who notes that the Russian investors go to great lengths to protect their anonymity.

“One billion pounds of Russian money is the minimum invested in London property,” said Mr. Ashurkov. “There are at least 100 Russian families living in mansions worth over 10 million pounds. But it’s very difficult to get an exact estimate because so many hide behind offshore companies.”

According to Transparency International UK, almost 10 percent of real estate in the Westminster borough of London is owned by anonymous offshore companies. In Kensington and Chelsea, perhaps the most upscale part of town, the figure is 7 percent. Both of these neighborhoods are favored by the Russian elite.

Illustrious Belgrave Square in Westminster has even been jokingly nicknamed “Red Square” because of the influx of Russian residents.

Many of these Russians expats don’t live in London full time and have portfolios of houses around the globe. Investing in London real estate isn’t a pure vanity project, though. For many watching the political uncertainty back home, England is a seen as a safe bet, similar to buying gold bars. If ever the need should arise for a swift exit from the motherland, many of these oligarchs can escape to London, where their fortunes are secured in the form of well-located bricks and mortar.

William Brown, a London contractor, has worked on a number of renovation projects for Russian billionaires. He won’t reveal the names of his clients, but he said they spend most of their time away from London.

“None of them are here full time. They might be in town just two months of the year,” he said. “Most of the time, there’s no one in these mansions except the butler and security guards.”

Large-scale renovations inevitably follow when a new owner takes over such a grand mansion, which creates a cottage industry that employs thousands of contractors, plumbers and interior designers like Mr. Brown.

“One client had 22 solid-marble bathrooms spending $90,000 per bathroom on renovation costs,” Mr. Brown said. “It’s extravagance like you wouldn’t believe.”

Working on high-end refurbishments for rich Russians in London’s most fashionable ZIP codes pays a lot more than the average project, he said, but the clients can have unreasonable expectations.

“The money is good, but there’s so much hassle,” he said. “Their designers ask for things that are almost impossible.”

Purchasing property of this value contributes significantly to the British treasury. The sale of a house with Witanhurst’s price tag would collect more than $10.3 million in taxes.

That money, often amassed from the selling of state assets when the Soviet Union broke up, has long been directed through London’s famed banks, to be pumped into the country’s property market and spent at the capital’s luxury boutiques.

In 2015, Deutsche Bank estimated capital inflows from outside the U.K. — mostly Russia — at more than $200 billion over the past three decades. State-controlled Russian companies, including Gazprom, oil producer Rosneft and financial firm Sberbank, all trade on the London Stock Exchange. Russian billionaires have even infiltrated that most hallowed of British institutions: soccer. Oligarchs are significant owners of such premier British soccer powers as Chelsea and Arsenal.

The intertwining of old Soviet wealth into the British economy complicates things. It becomes a tough task for the government to impose sanctions that would target “dirty money” without harming British interests at all levels, from the international banks to the self-employed contractors like Mr. Brown.

U.K. officials are likely not to crack down on assets or trade with Russia, given that Britain’s exit from the European Union is looming and economic growth has been sluggish, analysts say.

Still, Mr. Ashurkov said, all this shouldn’t dissuade Mrs. May from taking action against money harbored in her own backyard.

“Britain would be just fine without a few billion of corrupt money,” he said. “The British economy would not suffer if dirty money went away.”</s>London - A corner's court is scheduled to open an inquest on Thursday after the suspected murder of Nikolai Glushkov, who is said to have been an enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Counter-terrorism police launched a murder investigation after Glushkov, 68, sometimes known as Glouchkov, was found dead at his London home on March 12.

The Metropolitan Police said a pathologist's report gave the cause of death as "compression to the neck."

It said counter-terrorism officers were leading the probe "because of the associations Mr Glushkov is believed to have had."

The inquest by the West London coroner comes amid a diplomatic row following the nerve-agent poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the British city of Salisbury.

Glushkov's family issued a statement via the police on Wednesday, saying they were "devastated at the loss of Nikolai and are coming to terms with our grief."

The police said there is "nothing to suggest any link to the attempted murders in Salisbury, nor any evidence that he [Glushkov] was poisoned."

Glushkov is a former friend and business associate of the late Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who was found hanged in London in 2013.

Police believed Berezovsky committed suicide, but Glushkov and other friends had raised doubts about the death. A coroner recorded an open verdict.

Bill Browder, the founder of Hermitage Capital Management and an outspoken critic of Putin, said Glushkov's death was a "very disturbing development."

"Another Russian enemy of Putin, Nikolai Glushkov, found dead at his London home," Browder tweeted.</s>The family of the murdered Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov have said they are devastated at his death and are helping counter-terrorism detectives with the investigation.

The 68-year-old was found dead at his home in New Malden, south-west London, on 12 March and a postmortem showed he died from compression to the neck, suggesting he was strangled. Police ruled out suicide and launched a murder investigation last Friday.

“We, the family of Mr Nikolay Glushkov, are very grateful for the messages of sympathy received,” his relatives said in a statement issued through the Metropolitan police, using an alternative spelling of his first name. “A special thank you goes out to the Metropolitan police and the emergency services for their rapid response and assistance on the night.

“We are devastated at the loss of Nikolay and are coming to terms with our grief. We are assisting the counter-terror command with their investigation. As a result we will not be making or releasing any further public statements at this stage of the investigation.”

Detectives have appealed for any footage or images that motorists or cyclists may have captured on dashcams or headcams in Clarence Avenue on Sunday 11 March or Monday 12 March.

At the time of his death, Glushkov was about to defend himself against a fraud claim brought by the Russian airline Aeroflot at the commercial court in London.

In 2017, during a trial in absentia in Russia, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing $123m (£87m) from the airline, which then pursued the case in London. Glushkov failed to arrive at court in central London on 12 March and his body was discovered that evening.

He was a friend of the oligarch Boris Berezovsky, a critic of Vladimir Putin who had clashed in court with Roman Abramovich. Berezovsky was found hanged at his ex-wife’s home in Berkshire in 2013. Police said they believed he killed himself but a coroner recorded an open verdict.

Police have said that at this stage there is nothing to suggest any link to the attempted murders of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury this month, nor any evidence that Glushkov was poisoned.

“Detectives are retaining an open mind and are also appealing for anyone with information that could assist the investigation into Mr Glushkov’s murder to contact them in confidence,” Scotland Yard said.</s>Counter-terrorism police are leading an investigation after Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov, known critic of Putin who has been living in the UK under political asylum has been found dead in his home in South West London.</s>LONDON (AP) — British police say no sign of forced entry has been found at the home where a London-based Russian businessman died from a neck compression.

Metropolitan Police Commander Clarke Jarrett said Monday the forensic investigation into the death of businessman Nikolai Glushkov is continuing in the New Malden neighborhood where he lived.

Glushkov, 68, was found dead at his southwest London home on March 12. He was an associate of Boris Berezovsky, a wealthy Kremlin critic who died under disputed circumstances in 2013.

The murder investigation is being headed by counterterrorism detectives because of the "associations Mr. Glushkov is believed to have had," police said.

Glushkov had worked for various Berezovsky enterprises including the car factory AvtoVAZ and flagship Russian airline Aeroflot.

He was arrested in 1999 and put on trial for embezzling $7 million from Aeroflot. In 2004, he was sentenced to three years and three months in prison, but released because of time served.

Last year, Glushkov appeared on a list published by the Russian Embassy in London of Russian citizens wanted for serious crimes whom the U.K. had refused to extradite. It said Russia had sought his extradition in 2015 "for committing a number of severe financial offences on the territory of Russia," but the British government refused.

Police have said they do not see a link between the Glushkov case and the recent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury.

British police have contacted other Russian exiles in the last few days to discuss their safety in light of the recent attacks.</s>A British court has opened an inquest to establish the cause of death of Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov, who was found at his home in London earlier this month.

The inquest at West London Coroner's Court comes amid a diplomatic dispute following the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury.

But police say there is "nothing to suggest any link” to the attempted murders of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, nor “any evidence” that Glushkov was poisoned.

West London Coroner's Court heard evidence of how paramedics arrived at Glushkov’s home in London on March 12 and declared him dead shortly after.

Court officer Terry Waple confirmed that a postmortem had concluded that Glushkov died of “compression to the neck.”

The inquest was later adjourned pending further police investigation.

The court proceedings are to determine when and where Glushkov died, his medical cause of death, and the circumstances surrounding it.

Also on March 22, the Russian ambassador to Britain, Aleksandr Yakovenko, suggested that Britain was “deliberately ignoring our requests and continues to avoid any contacts” with Russia’s Embassy to London on the case.

Police have launched a murder investigation and said counterterrorism officers were leading the case "because of the associations Mr. Glushkov is believed to have had."

Glushkov had lived in London in recent years, after being granted political asylum in Britain in 2010 and becoming a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A former deputy director of Russian state airline Aeroflot, Glushkov was jailed in 1999 for five years for money laundering and fraud. He was also given a suspended sentence for another count of fraud in 2006.

Glushkov was a close associate of Russian oligarch turned Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky, who was found hanged in his home outside London in 2013.

An inquest failed to establish if he had committed suicide.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal remain hospitalized and in critical condition after they were found collapsed on a bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain accuses Russia of using a military-grade nerve agent known as Novichok against the pair, while Moscow denies involvement.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, The Guardian, and TASS
An inquest is opened into the death of murdered Russian exiled dissident Nikolai Glushkov in London.