ANTI-Putin Russian mogul Nikolai Glushkov, who was found dead in London today, apparently cost Alexander Litvinenko's poisoner 14 months in jail.

Glushkov, 68, was found with "strangulation marks" at his home in New Malden, where he lived away from prying eyes, just before 11pm last night.

Andrey Lugovoy, widely accused of murdering dissident Litvinenko with polonium, was apparently jailed for attempting to spring Glushkov from prison in 2001.

Glushkov, a close friend of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, had been jailed for defrauding Aeroflot.

Lugovoy, who was head of security for a TV station partly owned by Berezovsky at the time, was sent down for 14 months but had his jail term cut short.

There were claims that he may have owed the FSB for getting him out and poisoning Litvinenko's tea with a radioactive cocktail could have been part of his payback.