Alexander Litvinenko, who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder, had planned to blackmail a wealthy Russian businessman, the Reuters news agency reports.

Russian Julia Svetlichnaya said in a television interview she was a graduate student in London when she spoke to Litvinenko — a former Russian state security officer who died on November 23 in London after ingesting polonium 210 — about a book she was writing.

“He told me … he’s doing a project for blackmailing one of the Russian oligarchs (exiled Russian businessmen) … in U.K.,” Svetlichnaya told CBS television’s “60 Minutes” in a program to be aired on Sunday.

“He thought that it was actually an OK thing to do because this particular person, as Litvinenko claimed, had a connection with … Putin,” she said.

The Kremlin has dismissed Litvinenko’s deathbed accusation that Putin was behind his poisoning. British police, who say Litvinenko was murdered, have since been to Moscow to question witnesses.

“I can’t say it’s (Putin’s) order, but without his knowledge, it couldn’t happen,” Litvinenko’s widow, Marina, told “60 Minutes” when asked about her husband’s death.

She also dismissed the claims that her husband had been planning to blackmail someone, saying that while she didn’t know what work he did, he “wasn’t a person (who would do that).”

Svetlichnaya would not say who she claimed Litvinenko was planning to blackmail, but said it wasn’t exiled Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky, who has become the Kremlin’s number one enemy.

Berezovsky told “60 Minutes” that Litvinenko had given him information for the tycoon’s campaign against Putin and his regime. Berezovsky said he believed his relationship with Litvinenko had been a factor in the former agent’s death.

“Unfortunately, I should say yes,” Berezovsky said.

Since Litvinenko’s death traces of radiation have been found at several sites in London, including a sushi bar where Litvinenko met contacts, a hotel he visited and the offices Berezovsky.

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