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The younger sibling of murdered spy Alexander Litvinenko says his brother was not killed by Russian spies and instead blames UK security services that wanted him dead.

And Maxim Litvinenko has rejected the findings of the inquiry into his brother's death, saying that to blame the Kremlin is 'ridiculous.'

The inquiry found that President Putin 'probably' authorised the murder by Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, who were under the direction of Moscow's FSB intelligence service , when they poisoned the 43-year-old with radioactive polonium 210 at London's Millennium Hotel.

But Maxim Litvinenko, Alexander's younger brother, claimed the report was an obvious attempt to 'put pressure on Russia' and that British secret services had more reason to want Litvinenko dead than Putin.

(Image: EPA)

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Maxim, a chef by trade who lives in Rimini, Italy, said: "I don't believe for a second that the Russian authorities were involved.

"The sentence is a set-up to provide more bad publicity against the Russian government.

"The Russians had no reason to want Alexander dead, he claimed. 'My brother was not a spy, he was more like a policeman.

"He was in the FSB but he worked against organised crime, murders, arms trafficking, stuff like that.

"He did not know any state secrets or go on any special missions . It is the Western media that have called him a spy."

His relations with Russia were so stable that Alexander planned to return, his brother claimed, because he didn't have enough work in London.

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"He had already started to get in touch with old friends and would have gone back in due course," he added.

"My father and I are sure that the Russian authorities are not involved. It's all a set-up to put pressure on the Russian government.

"Why else would the court be called to hold this inquiry only after 10 years?'

(Image: PA)

"The West appear to be collaborating with Russia in Syria but it's not real-there's still sanctions."

He claimed that British authorities had not collaborated with Russian investigators on his brother's case and cast doubt on whether polonium was really the murder weapon saying he believes it could have been planted to frame the Russians.

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He said: "I believe he could have been killed by another poison maybe thallium, which killed him slowly and the polonium was planted afterwards.

(Image: MET Police)

"We have always asked for his body to be exhumed so that we can verify the presence of polonium in the body but we have been ignored.

"Now after ten years any trace would have disappeared anyway so we will never know. "

He also claimed that several other deaths, including the suicide of Boris Berezovsky, the dissident who had initially supported Litvinenko financially, and the murder of the owner of a nightclub where traces of polonium were found, could be linked to his brother's death.

(Image: Dan Kitwood)

Maxim, a chef by training, initially blamed the Russian regime for his brother's murder. But his views have now radically altered.

In 2008 and 2009 the Litvinenko family had a restaurant in Rimini, a resort on Italy's Adriatic coast which is popular with Russians, that was closed down, forcing the family into financial difficulties.

But as his views altered his fortunes seem to have improved.

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The father-of-two says he now works between Russia and Rimini, and is launching a property company in Italy targeting foreigners, especially Russians.

(Image: Reuters)

He has denied accepting any money from the Russian state.

Asked why Litvinenko's widow Marina continues to maintain that the Kremlin is responsible for the death he said: 'She lives in London, to survive she has to play the game and take this point of view. She can't say anything else."