Russian murder: Met Police terror unit formally launches investigation businessman’s death

The Met Police this afternoon launched a murder investigation into the death of Russian businessman Nikolay Glushkov.

The 68-year-old was found dead at his home in New Malden, south-west London, on Monday evening. Emergency services were called shortly before 11pm with police initially treating Glushkov’s death as unexplained.

“A special post-mortem began on Thursday, 15 March and we received the pathologist report today (Friday, 16 March), which gave the cause of death as compression to the neck,” Police said.

The Met Police’s Counter Terrorism Command remains in charge of the investigation as a precaution, authorities said.

Read more: Intelligence breakdown: Corbyn refuses to blame Moscow for spy attack

The probe comes as Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov today said UK diplomats will be expelled from the country.

Russian spy Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia have been in intensive care after they were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury nearly two weeks ago. The pair had come into contact with a nerve agent that experts have reportedly ruled “beyond a reasonable doubt” came from Russia.

Moscow has consistently denied responsibility for the attack and has said it considers Britain’s subsequent response to be a “flagrant provocation”. It said the UK’s decision to expel 23 of its diplomats was “unacceptable and unworthy of the British government”.

In relation to the Glushkov investigation, police said:

At this stage, there is nothing to suggest any link to the attempted murders in Salisbury, nor any evidence that he was poisoned.

Read more: Russia rejects Theresa May’s Skripal claims as “nonsense”