British Find Radiation at 12 Locations

Dated last Friday, it says the office "has now been closed and is the subject of a police investigation." It also notes that "very small amounts of polonium 210" were found in the reception area on a sofa, which has been removed, as well as "two other sites" in the building.

"It is not yet clear how it entered the premises," says the flier, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.

Andrei Lugovoy, one of three Russian businessmen who met Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel bar, told the Russian newspaper Kommersant that he had flown home to Moscow Nov. 3 on one of the three British Airways aircraft now grounded. Lugovoy, another former Russian intelligence officer, met Litvinenko with Dmitry Kovtun, who told Echo Moskvy radio last week that he was a business consultant in Moscow. Lugovoy once worked for Berezovsky in Moscow.

A third man, Vyacheslav Sikolenko, who runs an association of security companies in Moscow, said in a broadcast by the radio station that he exchanged a brief greeting with Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel.

The Russian visitors, who had studied together in the 1980s at a Moscow military college, attended a soccer match here between teams from Moscow and London in the European championship league.

Lugovoy said that the meeting lasted 20 or 30 minutes and that no one ate. He also said Litvinenko did not drink anything. Kovtun said he was interested in meeting Litvinenko because "he had serious contacts with serious British companies which wanted to get into the Russian market but had experienced difficulty with this."

Lugovoy, who met with British investigators at the British Embassy in Moscow, has denied any involvement in Litvinenko's death. He has checked into a Moscow clinic, according to news reports there.

Lugovoy was an official bodyguard in the early 1990s to Gaidar, the former prime minister.

Mario Scaramella, an Italian who was on the staff of an Italian parliamentary investigation that looked into the KGB, also met with Litvinenko that day. He has denied any involvement in the poisoning and said he has been tested and shows no signs of radiation contamination.

A British coroner opened an inquest into Litvinenko's death Thursday. It was adjourned after a few minutes to allow police to continue their investigation.

Andrew Reid, who presided at the coroner's court, said three pathologists would take part in an autopsy Friday at the Royal London Hospital -- one representing the government, another for Litvinenko's wife and the third as an independent specialist in case there is a later criminal prosecution.

The FBI has agreed to participate in the poisoning probe at the request of British investigators, a spokesman in Washington said. FBI experts in weapons of mass destruction will provide "technical assistance only," Special Agent Richard Kolko said.

At the moment, the case has no apparent connection to the United States or to U.S. citizens, officials said.

British health officials have repeatedly stressed that the radiation's threat to public health is low and that radiation from polonium-210 must be inhaled or ingested to be dangerous. But more than 1,700 people have called a special National Health Service hotline established to handle questions about the issue. And 5,500 people have called a British Airways hotline.

Finn reported from Moscow. Special correspondent Karla Adam in London and staff writer Dan Eggen in Washington contributed to this report.