| Page 3 of 3 < |
Two Old Friends at Center of Poison Mystery
German police officers search for traces of polonium-210 near a house in Haselau, Germany, visited by Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun, now under treatment in Moscow.
(By Andreas Rentz -- Getty Images)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Investigators are now scrutinizing contacts among these three men and Litvinenko in London.
Kovtun told Echo Moskvy that he was first introduced to Litvinenko by Lugovoy in London on Oct. 16. Litvinenko had "serious contacts with serious British companies which wanted to get into the Russian market but had experienced difficulties with this," he told the radio station.
The Nov. 1 meeting at the Millennium Hotel in central London's chic Mayfair neighborhood was unplanned, Kovtun said. Litvinenko simply phoned to say he wanted to come over to the hotel.
"We didn't talk much" there, Lugovoy told Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. "He only said that our business meeting was set for tomorrow at 10."
"Then my 8-year-old son ran in and I introduced him to Alexander. We stood and talked a little more. Then we went to the lobby and my wife with the daughters and Vyacheslav Sokolenko came in after their tour. We said hello and then went to our rooms. I didn't notice anything unusual in Alexander's behavior. We discussed Hamburg weather and Dmitry's dog." Kovtun has an Irish wolfhound.
Sokolenko, also at the hotel, said he had come to the city for a soccer match. "I learned there was a meeting with Litvinenko much later, on November 17," he said. "Maybe I saw him, but I had no idea the man was Litvinenko."
The following morning, Lugovoy said, Litvinenko called and said "he was feeling awful, stomach problems, and that he couldn't go to the meeting."
Whitlock reported from Hamburg. Special correspondent Shannon Smiley in Hamburg contributed to this report.
