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Exiled Russians 'refused to
answer key questions in Litvinenko probe'
Steve Gutterman
AP
Tuesday April 10, 2007
Two exiled Kremlin adversaries refused to answer key questions
posed by Russian authorities investigating the poisoning death of
former security agent Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian investigator
said in an interview published yesterday.
Tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev
answered fewer than half the questions they were asked in hours-long
sessions late last month, the head of a team of Russian investigators
who interviewed them last month in London, Andrei Mayorov, told
the official newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
"In a word, they did not answer the most key questions,"
said Mayorov.
His comments were part of a back-and-forth of accusations and insinuations
over the death of Litvinenko, a Kremlin critic and Berezovsky associate
who died in a London hospital in November following a dose of radioactive
polonium-210.
Berezovsky has echoed Litvinenko's deathbed accusation that blamed
Russian President Vladimir Putin for his death. Russia's chief prosecutor
has said it was possible Russians living abroad killed Litvinenko,
and pro-Kremlin lawmakers and state-controlled media have said Berezovsky
could have been behind his death.
Mayorov made no accusations and referred to Berezovsky and Zakayev
as witnesses. But he told Rossiyskaya Gazeta that Berezovsky declined
to answer questions about his financial and business ties to Litvinenko,
adding that "Litvinenko, especially recently, in many ways
depended on (Berezovsky)."
Russian media have speculated that a falling-out over money between
Berezovsky and Litvinenko could have led to his death; some have
alleged that Berezovsky had reduced an allowance they claimed he
was paying Litvinenko.
Mayorov said that Berezovsky also refused to talk about how Litvinenko
had been making a living recently, or about "certain people"
he said Russian investigators believe met with Litvinenko shortly
before his poisoning.
"All this important information, which doubtless would help
the investigation, we could have received from Berezovsky and Zakayev,
who called themselves the deceased's best friends. But they said
nothing," said Mayorov.
Zakayev could not immediately be reached for comment. Berezovsky
told The Associated Press he answered the vast majority of the questions.
"The Russians asked me about 200 questions, and I refused
to answer about 20 of them, which focused on my private business
dealings" and the whereabouts of journalist Yelena Tregubova,
Berezovsky said. Tregubova wrote a 2003 book critical of Putin called
"Tales of a Kremlin Digger" and escaped injury when a
small bomb went off outside her apartment.
Mayorov suggested that financial ties between Litvinenko and Berezovsky
could have led to the poisoning, saying that some of the theories
about the case are interconnected. "This is precisely why Berezovsky
was asked questions about his financial dealings with Litvinenko."
One of the wealthiest of the Russian tycoons who amassed fortunes
in shadowy privatization deals in the 1990s, Berezovsky was an influential
Kremlin insider but fell out with Putin in 2000 and fled to England
to avoid prosecution on what he said were politically motivated
charges of financial misdeeds.
After the questioning, Berezovsky said that he was asked about
Litvinenko's financial status but also suggested that the Russian
investigators were seeking information about his own finances. Mayorov
said that all the questions to Berezovsky - more than 100 - "involved
exclusively the death of Litvinenko."
Mayorov said that Berezovsky and Zakayev were questioned simultaneously
and that he was present for the questioning of Zakayev. British
authorities have said they conducted the interviews on behalf of
Russian investigators - the same format as when British investigators
came to Moscow for their probe in December.
Among those questioned by British authorities were Andrei Lugovoi
and Dmitry Kovtun, two Russians with military and security backgrounds
who met with Litvinenko in London the day he said he fell ill. British
authorities have filed no charges.
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