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One of two men believed by British intelligence to have poisoned a Russian spy’s tea with a rare radioactive substance in London has died, according to a state-owned news agencyOne of the men accused of killing former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London has died of Covid-19 in Moscow, according to reports. Dmitri Kovtun was one of two men who a UK inquiry ruled had poisoned Litvinenko’s tea with a rare radioactive substance back in 2006. Reports from state-owned Russian news agency Tass said Kovtun contracted coronavirus before dying in a Moscow hospital. Kovtun, along with Andrei Lugovoi, was...

The Polonium Diversion At least a dozen people have been contaminated by the rare radioactive isotope Polonium 210. The list includes Alexander Litvinenko, the ex-Lieutenant Colonel in the KGB who died from a dose of Polonium 210 in London on November 23rd; Andrei Lugovoi, a former colleague of Litvinenko in the KGB, who met with Litvinenko at the Pine bar of the Millennium Hotel in London the day he became ill, November 1st; Dmitry Lugovoi, Lugovoi’s business associate, who also attended that November 1st meetings; 7 employees of the Millennium Hotel; Mario Scaramella, an Italian security consultant, who dined with...

The sudden death of an exiled Georgian billionaire may have been another "Alexander Litvinenko-style" murder, it is feared. A major crime squad is investigating the death of 52-year-old Badri Patarkatsishvili, whose body was found at his country mansion in Surrey at about 11pm last night. His family said he suffered a heart attack - but Surrey Police have launched an investigation to confirm the exact cause of death after reports of a plot to kill him. Sky News' home affairs correspondent Mark White said: "The police want to leave no stone uncovered. "In the light of Litvinenko's death in 2006...

Ex-KGB agent charged with Litvinenko's murder by Robin Millard Tue May 22, 2007 The Crown Prosecution Service demanded Tuesday the extradition of a former KGB man to face charges over the radiation murder of Alexander Litvinenko, in a move likely to seriously strain ties with Moscow. Russian authorities immediately said they would not hand over Andrei Lugovoi, a wealthy Russian businessman, despite London's demands for "full cooperation" from Moscow over the affair. Prosecutors called for his extradition over the poisoning of Litvinenko last November, which CPS chief Sir Ken Macdonald called an "extraordinarily grave crime." "I have today concluded that...

'Walking Dirty Bomb' Tells of London Meetings By Anna Sadovnikova, Hans Hoyng, Thomas Hüetlin and Uwe Klussmann A few days before he was put in quarantine in a Moscow hospital, Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoi, believed to be one of Scotland Yard's main suspects in the killing of Alexander Litvinenko, spoke to DER SPIEGEL about his meetings with the former spy. Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoi during an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio in Moscow, November 23. Andrei Lugovoi, 40, former KGB agent, currently a kind of mini magnate in the Russian soft drinks industry, is the man British investigators believe left...