Russia's secret service yesterday issued its strongest denial yet that it was to blame for the poisoning of the former KGB agent who is seriously ill in a London hospital. The denial from the Russian foreign intelligence service, the SVR, came as Alexander Litvinenko's condition deteriorated, according to a friend. Sergei Ivanov, an SVR spokesman, told the Interfax news agency that the dissident was not important enough for it to mount a risky assassination attempt: "Litvinenko is not the kind for whose sake we would spoil bilateral relations. It is not in our interests." Mr Litvinenko became ill on November 1 following meetings with contacts, the first with two Russian men at the Millennium hotel in Mayfair and the second with Italian academic Mario Scaramella at the Itsu sushi bar in Piccadilly. Mr Litvinenko claims he met a former KGB agent, Andrei Lugovoi, at the hotel along with another Russian. Mr Lugovoi said yesterday that he would not comment until he had met British embassy officials in Moscow.