Litvinenko was victim of 'Russian rogue agents'

By Sandra Laville and Richard Norton-Taylor
London Guardian
Dec. 02, 2006

British intelligence sources increasingly suspect that Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy killed with a radioactive poison, was the victim of a plot involving "rogue elements" within the Russian state, the Guardian has learned. While ruling out any official involvement by Vladimir Putin's government, investigators believe that only those with access to state nuclear laboratories could have mounted such a sophisticated plot. Police were last night closing in on a group of men who entered the UK among a large crowd of Muscovite football fans. The group of five or more arrived shortly before Mr Litvinenko fell ill and attended the CSKA Moscow match against Arsenal at the Emirates stadium on November 1. They flew back shortly afterwards. While describing them only as witnesses, police believe their presence could hold the key to the former spy's death.

Last night, the Irish government said it was launching a separate investigation focussing on the former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar, who fell ill during a visit to Ireland a week ago. At first Mr Gaidar's entourage thought he was suffering from something he had eaten. But yesterday one of his aides said doctors suspected he had been poisoned.

The Gardaí said it would question everyone Mr Gaidar had been in contact with, but there was no immediate link to the Litvinenko case.

In London the number of locations searched by police for traces of radioactive material rose to 24 yesterday, with polonium-210 found at 12. John Reid, the home secretary, told the Commons there was a "high level" of contamination at some of the locations but the risk to the public was low.

It was reported that the levels of radiation were highest in the toilets of the Millennium Hotel in London, where Mr Litvinenko had a meeting shortly before falling ill. These levels were above the safe public dose limit, according to Channel 4 News. There were also traces at the Itsu sushi bar, where he went later, but they were far lower.

The Health Protection Agency said Mr Litvinenko had had a "significant quantity" of the polonium-210 in his urine when he was in hospital.

Explaining the increasing belief that Mr Litvinenko's death involved Russian state elements, one official said yesterday: "Only the state would have access to that material".

Officials now go so far as to say that the involvement of individuals within the FSB in the affair is "probable". But they insist that it is far from definite and the evidence is still circumstantial.

Intelligence sources do not rule out the possibility that the perpetrators were "rogue elements" either still in the FSB or former members of it.

Though police anti-terrorist officers are in charge of the operation, Whitehall officials said MI5 and MI6 were helping. The British embassy in Moscow and the Russian embassy in London are also involved.

The three British Airways aircraft grounded late on Tuesday night remained out of action yesterday.

The two planes at Heathrow which showed traces of polonium-210 were being swept by police investigators while the plane at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport was still awaiting inspection.

A BA spokesman declined to give a timetable for their return to active service. Sources at the airline said the traces of polonium-210 were discovered in the seating areas.

Police checked a Boeing 737 from the Russian airline Transaero when it landed at Heathrow yesterday before giving it the all-clear. Mr Reid said the government was monitoring a fifth Russian passenger plane, but declined to name the airline involved.

Police sources said the searches of the three grounded aircraft were all part of the investigation into the movements of the key group of witnesses who entered the country with football fans.

Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB spy who met Mr Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel on November 1, has said that he was on a London-bound flight from Moscow on October 31 with his family and some friends. The group attended the Arsenal-CSK Moscow match the next day.

The second man who was at the meeting in the hotel, Dmitri Kovtun, arrived in London early on November 1 on a flight from Hamburg. Both men returned to Moscow together on the same flight on November 3.

Mr Kovtun said yesterday they had both contacted British police after waiting in vain to be contacted by detectives. "We got in touch with them ourselves, and they thanked us," he said. But he has not been asked to give a statement.

Mr Kovtun said both he and Mr Lugovoi had been tested for any signs that they had been in contact with radioactive substances and were waiting for the results.

Both have vigorously denied any involvement in the poisoning.