Contact of Ex-Spy Leaves London Hospital

The club badge is seen on a section of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in north London, Wednesday Dec. 6, 2006. Faint levels of radioactive polonium-210 have been found at two locations at the stadium, where Andrei Lugovoi, a key figure in the investigation of the death of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, attended a soccer match on Nov. 1, a British official said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) (Matt Dunham - AP)

LONDON -- The Italian security expert who met former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko on the day he fell fatally ill was released from a London hospital Wednesday after showing no signs of radiation poisoning.

The expert, Mario Scaramella, was discharged and was in good health, University College Hospital spokesman Ian Lloyd said. Scaramella was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for polonium-210, which was found in Litvinenko's body.

A British official also said faint levels of the same element had been found at two locations at London's Emirates Stadium, where a key figure in the investigation, former Russian agent Andrei Lugovoi, attended a soccer match on Nov. 1.

The radiation was "barely detectable" and posed no public health risk, said Katherine Lewis, spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency.

Traces also were found at the British Embassy in Moscow, the Foreign Office said. Officials said the level was low and posed no risk to health.

The agency has been tracking a number of sites found to be contaminated with the deadly element, including a sushi bar and a hotel Litvinenko visited on Nov. 1, the day he reported feeling sick. He died in a London hospital on Nov. 23.

The restaurant, Itsu Sushi, said Wednesday that it would reopen in the new year. It said all its staff had been given a clean bill of health.

Lugovoi, who is now hospitalized in Moscow for tests for possible radiation contamination, attended a match at Emirates Stadium between CSKA Moscow and Arsenal on Nov. 1, the same day he met Litvinenko.

A former KGB officer, Lugovoi told Ekho Moskvy radio in Moscow that he had known Litvinenko for a decade, dating back to Lugovoi's tenure as head of security for ORT television, which was controlled at the time by tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who now lives in London.

He said Litvinenko had contacted him from London about a year ago with some business-related proposals, and that they had met intermittently in London since then.

One of Lugovoi's business associates, Vyacheslav Sokolenko, said British investigators were due to meet with Lugovoi on Wednesday. But ITAR-Tass quoted a lawyer for Lugovoi, Andrei Romashov, as saying the meeting with Scotland Yard detectives would take place either Thursday or Friday.

"Representatives of law enforcement agencies have not notified us of a date or time," Romashov was quoted as saying.