‘Police have identified man in Litvinenko poisoning’
Monday, January 22, 2007
BRITISH police declined to comment yesterday on a report they had identified the man suspected of killing the former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko in London.
Litvinenko died in a London hospital on November 23 after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210. In a deathbed statement, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of involvement in his murder. The Kremlin has dismissed the allegations.
The Times newspaper said police had identified the man they suspect by matching a description given by Litvinenko to images from security cameras at Heathrow airport.
Identified simply as "Vladislav," the man is said to have arrived in London on November 1 — the day Litvinenko said he met another former Russian spy and a Russian businessman and then fell ill.
The newspaper reported that "Vladislav" had also been at the meeting, and had since vanished.