MOSCOW: Andrei Lugovoy, one of two Russians named on Thursday by a judge led-British inquiry as the killers of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko, said the accusations against him were "absurd", the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

The inquiry into the 2006 killing in London concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably approved a Russian intelligence operation to murder ex-KGB agent Litvinenko.

It said his poisoners were former KGB bodyguard turned lawmaker Lugovoy and fellow Russian Dmitry Kovtun.