LONDON, September 9. /TASS/. The United Kingdom refuses from cooperation with Russia investigating the circumstances behind Russian businessman Nikolay Glushkov’s death, Russia’s embassy in London said on Saturday.

"We should note that British authorities continue to refuse to cooperate on the investigation of the mysterious death on 12 March in London of former Deputy Director General of ‘Aeroflot’ Mr. Nikolay Glushkov producing different versions and leaks that are convenient for the UK Conservative government," the embassy said. "The British press informs us on the events that took place five years ago, which clearly have nothing to do with the Russian citizen’s death."

The Russian diplomatic mission pointed out that the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office had filed an official request with the Home Office on legal assistance in the criminal case into Glushkov’s death.

"However, there has been no reply. This amounts to a disregard by the British side of their obligations under the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 1959," the press release said.

"The British authorities pursue the policy of classifying inconvenient facts and criminal cases, in which Russians are involved. There are a lot of examples for such actions: notable cases of A. [Alexander] Litvinenko, A. [Alexander] Perepilichny, B. [Boris] Berezovsky, Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The common feature of all those cases are links of the Russians involved to British secret services. We can’t find any other explanations for the secrecy and inconsistency shown by the UK authorities," Russia’s embassy stressed.

Glushkov’s murder

Nikolai Glushkov was found dead at his London home on March 12. The Metropolitan Police said he had died from compression to the neck. At the same time, according to media reports, the businessman was strangled with a dog lead so investigators believe that the killer could have aimed at giving his death the appearance of suicide.

On March 16, Russia’s Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case over Glushkov’s murder. However, as the embassy said earlier, the official London does not respond to proposals to hold bilateral inter-departmental consultations with the participation of Russian investigators.

In the 1990s, Glushkov was deputy managing director at Russia’s flag air carrier Aeroflot and worked for Berezovsky’s LogoVAZ car company. In 2000, he was arrested over the embezzlement of Aeroflot’s funds, and later charged with fraud and money laundering. In 2004, he was sentenced to three years and three months behind bars but was released in the courtroom having served the term in custody.

In recent years, Glushkov had been living in the United Kingdom after being granted political asylum in 2010. In March 2017, Moscow’s Savelovsky District Court handed him a second eight-year sentence in absentia for the embezzlement of Aeroflot’s funds.