Reports key figure in poisoning case is in coma

Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun, a key figure in the poisoning investigation of ex-security agent Alexander Litvinenko, is in a coma, a Russian news agency said today, but a lawyer close to the case denied the report.

The Interfax news agency, citing unnamed sources, said Kovtun fell into a coma immediately after being questioned by Russian investigators and Scotland Yard detectives.

“By the doctors’ diagnosis, Kovtun’s condition is critical,” Interfax quoted the sources as saying.

But Andrei Romashov, a lawyer for another key figure in the case, said he contacted Kovtun’s representatives after the report and they told him Kovtun’s condition was “the same as it was when he met with prosecutors”.

Romashov declined to name Kovtun’s representatives.

British detectives went to Moscow this week to observe the interrogation by Russian authorities of figures linked to the death of Litvinenko, who died on November 23 of radiation poisoning.

One of the first to be questioned was Kovtun, a businessman and former Russian agent who had met Litvinenko in London on the same day that Litvinenko said he had been poisoned.