Russian’s illness ‘unlikely to be caused by thallium sulphate’

THE illness of the Russian former security agent Alexander Litvinenko is unlikely to have been caused by thallium sulphate poisoning, the hospital doctors treating him said last night.

Dr Amit Nathwani, the consultant caring for Mr Litvinenko at University College Hospital in London, said further tests would be conducted to establish the cause of his condition.

It is yet another twist in the extraordinary Cold War style saga and comes after a leading toxicologist claimed that Mr Litvinenko could have been poisoned with “radioactive thallium”.

In a statement last night, the hospital trust said: “Mr Litvinenko is being treated in the intensive care unit of University College Hospital so he can receive cardiac monitoring and specialist support in areas such as nutrition and pain relief.

“He can also be more effectively isolated to protect him against infection, following the damage to his immune system.

“We have requested toxicology tests to establish what poisoned Mr Litvinenko. Based on results we have received today and Mr Litvinenko’s clinical features, thallium poisoning is an unlikely cause of his current condition.

“Further tests will be carried out to establish whether or not there is a single cause for Mr Litvinenko’s condition.”

The hospital later clarified that it was unlikely Mr Litvinenko’s illness was caused by thallium sulphate poisoning and a radioactive cause to his illness could not be ruled out “although not all of his signs and symptoms are consistent with radiation toxicity”.

Earlier, Dr Nathwani admitted the cause of the illness may never be known.

“We have done a series of investigations and, based on his presentation and some laboratory tests, it is possible he may not have been poisoned with thallium, though we cannot completely exclude this because of the timing of his presentation at our hospital,” he said.

However, Dr Nathwani added of Mr Litvinenko: “He has been poisoned, so we are looking for other causes of poison.

“His symptoms are slightly odd for thallium poisoning and the levels of thallium we were able to detect are not the kind of levels you would see in toxicity.”

Dr Nathwani said Mr Litvinenko had been treated and it was a question of how he responded: “We are talking weeks and months.”

Earlier yesterday, the BBC released a transcript of an interview with Mr Litvinenko on November 11, about 10 days after he was allegedly poisoned.

Speaking to the BBC’s Russian Service, Mr Litvinenko said: “Look, now after a serious poisoning, I am still in very bad shape, I feel badly and I am staying at one of London’s clinics.”

Asked about his meeting with a contact at the London restaurant, he added: “He passed me some papers, where the person was named, who apparently might be connected to the murder of [dissident Russian journalist] Anna Politkovskaya. That’s it. After several hours I felt sick with symptoms of poisoning.

“I don’t know whether they (the poisoning and the meeting) are connected. I guess you can make your own conclusion on this.”

Poisoned spy: lunch date talks

An Italian security expert yesterday confirmed he met with a former Russian spy in London before the critic of the Kremlin was taken seriously ill with what British police and doctors suspect is poisoning by a toxic metal.

Mario Scaramella said he met with Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB and Federal Security Service agent, at a restaurant on November 1 to discuss information on the killing of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Scaramella said he had received emails from a confidential source identifying a group of men from St Petersburg as the journalist’s killers and listing other potential targets for assassination – including himself, Litvinenko and Italian Sen Paolo Guzzanti.

Scaramella said he had deemed the information unreliable, but wanted to confer with Litvinenko.

Before sitting down the Russian helped himself from the restaurant’s buffet and received some soup from an attendant, Scaramella said, adding that he did not eat anything.

When Scaramella called Litvinenko’s home the following day, his wife told him he had been taken ill.

He declined to say whether he had been questioned and would not speculate on any suspects, but said Litvinenko had said he had another meeting before him.