Mark Franchetti and Jon Ungoed-Thomas
London
Times
Sunday, December 10, 2006
RUSSIAN prosecutors investigating the poisoning of Alexander
Litvinenko, the former spy, want to travel to London to question
a billionaire Russian exile and a Chechen associate.
The move is likely to further strain relations between Russia
and Britain, which have been undermined by allegations that the
FSB, the former KGB, might be involved in the killing. Russian
authorities are also suspected of disrupting the BBC Russian service’s
coverage of the murder.
The Russian investigators’ targets are Boris Berezovsky,
a billionaire businessman who employed Litvinenko and is a long-standing
critic of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and Akhmed Zakayev,
a Chechen exile the Russians have wanted to extradite on terrorism
charges, which he denies.
“There is no doubt that we will demand to question Berezovsky
and Zakayev,” said a source close to the Moscow inquiry.
“They both knew Litvinenko and could hold vital information.”
Russian investigators are likely to want to question Berezovsky
about his links to Andrei Lugovoi, a key witness and possible
suspect. Lugovoi had previously worked for Berezovsky, and it
is understood the oligarch was considering employing him as a
security adviser.
Zakayev was a close friend of Litvinenko. He accused the Moscow
authorities of launching a black propaganda campaign over the
former spy’s murder. “One [Moscow] version is that
Mr Berezovsky killed Litvinenko because it was in his interests.
It’s an absurd allegation,” he said.
The Home Office has refused previous requests from Moscow for
the extradition of Berezovsky and Zakayev. The Moscow intervention
will be viewed by critics of the regime as a crude tactic to divert
attention from the Kremlin.
The threat of a diplomatic row between London and Moscow comes
amid developments in the investigation. These include:
Traces of polonium are reported to have been found in a cup and
a dishwasher at the Millennium hotel in Mayfair, where Litvinenko
had a meeting on the day he is believed to have been poisoned.
Police in Hamburg, Germany, yesterday found radiation in apartments
linked to Dmitry Kovtun, one of the three businessmen who met
Litvinenko at the Millennium hotel on November 1. A German civilian
jet was also tested for contamination.
Moscow authorities have been accused of a misinformation campaign
after it was reported that Kovtun had slipped into a coma on Friday.
Kovtun denied the report this weekend in a telephone conversation
with The Sunday Times.
Mikhail Trepashkin, who is detained in Russia and who had warned
Litvinenko his life was in danger, has been moved to a high-security
jail. He will not be allowed to speak with British investigators.
New tests indicate that Mario Scaramella, one of Litvinenko’s
associates, is free of polonium contamination, despite being initially
told he had been given 10 times the lethal dose.
Litvinenko’s friends believe he was assassinated by his
former employer, the FSB. They are compiling files on previous
cases that they now believe may be linked to polonium, including
the deaths of two Chechen leaders in prison and that of one of
Putin’s former bodyguards who died of “an unexplained
illness”. The Kremlin has said it is “complete nonsense”
to link these deaths to polonium.
Speculation about the possible role of the Kremlin has angered
Russian authorities. It was reported yesterday that the Russians
were suspected of disrupting the BBC’s Russian service FM
broadcast in Moscow and St Petersburg at the height of the coverage
of the Litvinenko poisoning.
There is also suspicion that the Kremlin might be orchestrating
a campaign to discredit Litvinenko. It emerged yesterday that
Julia Svetlichnaya, a Russian academic who suggested the former
spy might be involved in a blackmail plot, is believed to have
been previously employed as a communications manager for a state-owned
Russian company.
There are also reports that the Russian authorities are suspected
of orchestrating a campaign of harassment against Tony Brenton,
Britain’s ambassador in Moscow. Brenton has been targeted
by Nashi, a nationalist youth movement linked to the Kremlin,
since he gave a speech to the Russian opposition in July.
While Tony Blair is anxious that relations with Moscow do not
suffer irreversible damage in the affair, Russian dissidents insist
he adopts a tougher line. Vladimir Bukovsky, the leading Russian
dissident in London, said: “We expect the British government
to respond properly. Instead, we hear that our so-called prime
minister told his colleagues that the priority is to retain good
and friendly relations with Russia.
“What is this? A licence to kill? An open invitation to
come and murder anyone Russia wishes as long as we have positive
relations. Prime minister, you are wrong. Your prime duty as prime
minister is to defend the citizens of this country and its sovereignty.”
British detectives in Moscow were still waiting to interview
Lugovoi yesterday. He was due to be interviewed on Tuesday, but
has not yet been made available by the Russian authorities .
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