Chechen rebels have said they will honour ex-Soviet spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died of radiation poisoning.
"The president and the government of Ichkeria [the rebel name for Chechnya] plans to bestow the state's highest decoration to compensate the actions of Alexander Litvinenko on behalf of the Chechen people," said a rebel statement.
Litvinenko's poisoning death in London on Thursday is still being investigated by British police. But the Chechen rebels blamed Moscow for his death by apparent radiation poisoning.
The incident has strained relations between London and Moscow, which denies any involvement in the incident.
Litvinenko was close to Chechen rebel representative Akhmed Zakayev,
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Chechen rebel representative Akhmed Zakayev accused the Kremlin of exporting "gangster politics" to Britain
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who visited his bedside before his death and accused the Kremlin of exporting "gangster politics" to Britain.
A former colonel in the KGB and its successor the Federal Security Service, Litvinenko co-authored a 2003 book blaming the Russian secret service for being behind the bombings in Moscow apartment buildings in 1999.
But he never furnished proof to back his accusations about the attacks, blamed on Chechen rebels.
Litvinenko had also "adopted the Muslim religion", according to the Chechen declaration, making him a "martyr" with his death.