Witness in Litvinenko case to meet British investigators

A key witness in the radiation poisoning case of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko said he would meet with British investigators today, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

“I have been officially informed that our meeting with Scotland Yard detectives will take place today and proceed with the participation of employees of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office,” Andrei Lugovoi was quoted as saying.

Lugovoi, who has said he was undergoing tests for possible radiation poisoning, said his doctors had given permission for the meeting, ITAR-Tass reported.

Litvinenko, 43, died on November 23 in London. Toxicologists found polonium-210, a rare radioactive substance, in his body.

Lugovoi is among the people whom Litvinenko met on November 1, the day he is believed to have fallen ill.

Yesterday, Russian Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika said his office would fully co-operate with the British investigators, but he said that all figures in the case whom the British investigators wanted to interrogate would be questioned by Russian prosecutors in the presence of the British officers.