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. 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. 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. “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. 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 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.
An inquest is opened into the death of murdered Russian exiled dissident Nikolai Glushkov in London.