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British Police Take Poisoning Inquiry to Moscow
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Sokolenko told the radio station that he was in London on Nov. 1 to join Lugovoy at a soccer game between British and Russian teams. Sokolenko said he "didn't have a meeting" with Litvinenko at the Millennium but merely "exchanged greetings" with him as Litvinenko spoke to the other two.
Kovtun said he first met Litvinenko in London with Lugovoy on Oct. 16, then again on Nov. 1. Kovtun said on Echo Moskvy that Litvinenko had "serious contacts with serious British companies which wanted to get into the Russian market, but had experienced difficulties with this."
Lugovoy described himself as an owner of a factory producing wine and nonalcoholic drinks made from herbs and honey. "This is my main business now," he said. "This factory is the largest in the country, 50,000 square meters, 500 employees. The company is very successful."
After graduating from the military academy, Lugovoy said, he worked in a KGB Kremlin regiment that provided security for VIPs. After the fall of the Soviet Union, he provided security in 1992 and 1993 for then-Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar -- who himself fell mysteriously ill recently during a visit to Ireland. He was released from a Moscow hospital Monday evening.
After leaving government service, Lugovoy spent several years as head of security for ORT, a national television channel once controlled by Boris Berezovsky, a billionaire now living in self-imposed exile in London. Berezovsky was a friend of Litvinenko's and is another harsh critic of Putin, who arranged a state takeover of ORT.
Lugovoy, like Litvinenko, spent time in prison in Russia. Lugovoy was charged with trying to help an official of the Russian airline Aeroflot, in which Berezovsky was a major shareholder, escape from police custody.
Litvinenko, for his part, angered his superiors when he publicly accused them of ordering him to kill Berezovsky. He was jailed on several charges of abusing his authority before he was released and fled the country, arriving in Britain in 2000.
Finn reported from Moscow.
