BBC Russian Service and Moscow's media censor negative opinions about Putin

In reviews of an article in the Guardian about the Berlusconi's refusal to grant political asylum for Litvinenko's family in Italy, distributed by the Russian Service of the BBC and by Moscow's media outlets, all negative opinions about Putin have been omitted.

The BBC Russian Service and Moscow's papers deleted, among other things, the following passages:

"We have fallen victim to a political game. Berlusconi is no better than Putin. All European governments have been flirting with Putin. Berlusconi's dependence on him, and on Russian gas, means that we don't get asylum", says Walter Litvinenko.

Walter Litvinenko blames Putin for the family's misfortune. "He killed my son. He's a sick man," he says.

Walter admits he is worried the same fate that befell his son might await him too.

"There is a certain subconscious fear. In Nalchik I wasn't afraid because I knew everybody's faces. Here it's different. At any moment a person could come up to you, and that would be the end."

Paolo Guzzanti, a former senator in Berlusconi's Forza Italia party who fell out with the prime minister over his friendship with Putin, said it was likely that Berlusconi had blocked the asylum applications.

"I have no confirmation of this, but it seems obvious, given the brotherly relationship between Putin and Berlusconi, that all possible obstacles to granting asylum will be raised in order to slow down the procedure or make it impossible," he said.

The BBC Russian Service cited the passage in the article "He killed my son. He's a sick man" as "They killed my son".

Meanwhile, the Italian press, including the influential newspaper Il Messagero, reported on March 9 that the 71-year-old Walter, the father of Alexander Litvinenko who had been poisoned with polonium-210 in 2006 in London by the KGB by Putin's order, was also a KGB officer like his son.

Earlier, Walter Litvinenko always claimed that he worked as a psychiatrist in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs which is only responsible for criminal police.

Department of Monitoring,