Special Report: Ex-Russian spy
dies
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Policemen secure the entrance of an
apartment building used by Dmitry Kovtun, a contact of the poisoned former
Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, in Hamburg, northern Germany, Dec. 11,
2006. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
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BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The sudden disappearance of a number of key
witnesses in the Alexander Litvinenko investigation will make it even harder for
British detectives, whose inquiry has now spread across five countries, The
Times reported Wednesday.
Scotland Yard was struggling to gain access to vital witnesses with former
associates of Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, claiming that they were too
scared to come forward.
Interpol on Tuesday joined the investigation into the poisoning of
Litvinenko, saying that it hoped to exchange information coming from Britain,
France, Italy, Germany and Russia.
Litvinenko died of radioactive poisoning last month in London. Experts
investigating his death have found radiation traces at a dozen locations and on
two British Airways planes that flew the Moscow-London route.
Litvinenko, who was a strong critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin,
accused the Kremlin of orchestrating his poisoning just before his death. Moscow
has vehemently denied the charge.
Russian officials have suggested that the poisoning may have been an
attempt to discredit Moscow, The Times reported.
The former agent had been arrested several times before fleeing to Britain
with his wife and son in November 2000 and was granted asylum. He became a
British citizen last month.
(Agencies)
4 tested in Germany for polonium that
kills Litvinenko
BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Four people were
hospitalized in Hamburg Monday, on suspicion they had been contaminated by
polonium, the same radioactive substance that killed former Russian spy
Alexander Litvinenko, The New York Times reported.
The four had contact in Germany with Russian businessman
Dmitri Kovtun, who spent four days in Hamburg in late October before flying to
London, where he and two other Russian men met at a hotel with Litvinenko on
Nov. 1. Litvinenko fell ill later that day from radiation poisoning and died
several weeks later.
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