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Spy radiation poisoning spreads
09/12/2006 14:08 - (SA)
Moscow - A second Russian businessman who met murdered ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko on the day he fell ill was now sick from radiation poisoning, Russian media quoted medical sources as saying on Friday.
Andrei Lugovoy has damage to vital organs consistent with exposure to dangerous levels of radiation, reported Interfax news agency, the same condition that killed Kremlin critic Litvinenko in London on November 23.
Lugovoy's business partner, Dmitry Kovtun, is also in hospital and Mario Scaramella, an Italian contact of Litvinenko, has undergone treatment in London for the effects of contamination.
Litvinenko, who was buried in London on Thursday, blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for his poisoning, a charge the Kremlin denied.
Russia's state-controlled Channel One television station broadcast what it said was a telephone interview with Lugovoy.
There was no indication from his voice that he was seriously ill and he made no mention of radiation poisoning.
"I feel fine, but nonetheless I am undergoing examination in a Moscow hospital," he told the station.
Contradictory reports
Interfax said its information on Lugovoy's condition came from his medical notes.
"Disruption in the functioning of some organs affected by radiation nuclides has been found (in Lugovoy)," it quoted a medical source as saying.
"Lugovoy's condition is considerably better than that of Kovtun, but he also has symptoms of contamination."
There have been contradictory reports about Kovtun, who met Litvinenko in London along with Lugovoy.
Some said he was in a critical condition, but a lawyer who was in touch with his representatives told Reuters that the reports were wrong.
Litvinenko was killed by a radioactive isotope called polonium 210, which is lethal even in the most minute doses if it finds its way into the bloodstream.
Hamburg police to check for radiation
Health experts are preparing to check for radiation at the Russia Today television studio where Lugovoy gave an interview on November 24.
Checks have already been made at two other locations where Logovoy has been in Russia - the Ekho Moskvy radio station and the British embassy. A small trace was found at the embassy.
Police in Hamburg said in a statement that they planned to examine Kovtun's flat in the German city for traces of polonium 210, following media reports that the Russian businessman had flown from Hamburg to London.
The Kremlin has expressed displeasure at the prominence British media has given to claims from Russian emigres that Putin was to blame for Litvinenko's death.
Lugovoy and Kovtun met Litvinenko at London's Millennium Hotel on November 1 for what Lugovoy described as a business meeting. He has denied any part in Litvinenko's poisoning.
The hospital where they are being treated has not been disclosed and their representatives were not answering their telephones on Friday.
- Reuters
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