Germany investigates spy contact over radiation traces

German authorities say they are investigating Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun on suspicion that he may have improperly handled radioactive material before he met ex-spy Alexander Litvenenko in London.

Police spokesman Martin Koehnke said the investigation of Mr Kovtun was opened because “at this stage of the investigation, we have sufficient initial cause to believe that he brought the polonium traces to Hamburg outside his body, or that these traces are the result of contact with polonium-210”.

Officials said that any possible connection between Mr Kovtun and Mr Litvinenko’s death would have to be investigated by British police – rather than by the Hamburg police task force.

Mr Koehnke said it was perfectly possible that Mr Kovtun was a victim.

A radiation agency official said it was possible Kovtun could already have been poisoned and that he left behind traces through body fluids such as sweat.

At this point, “we have to assume that Mr Kovtun already had this polonium-210 contamination on him when he came to Hamburg on October 28 on a flight from Moscow,” police investigator Thomas Menzel said.

Investigators said Mr Kovtun flew to Hamburg from Moscow with Aeroflot on October 28 and departed for London on November 1. That is the day when Mr Kovtun and at least one other Russian met with Litvinenko at London’s Millennium Hotel - and when Litvinenko is believed to have fallen ill.

On Saturday, the German plane aboard which Kovtun flew from Hamburg to London tested negative for polonium-210. Investigators raised the possibility that that may be because the plane had been cleaned thoroughly.

Mr Litvinenko – an ex-Russian agent who was a fierce Kremlin critic – died on November 23 of poisoning from polonium-210 after blaming Russian president Vladimir Putin, also a former intelligence officer, for the poisoning.

The Kremlin has vehemently denied involvement.

Mr Kovtun visited his ex-wife’s Hamburg flat the night before he headed to London and met Mr Litvinenko, German investigators said last night.

Tests on traces of radiation at the flat “clearly show that it is polonium-210”, radiation expert Gerald Kirchner said at a news conference.

The substance was found on a couch where Mr Kovtun is believed to have slept at the apartment.

Traces of radiation also were found in the passenger seat of the BMW car that picked Kovtun up from the Hamburg airport; on a document Kovtun brought to Hamburg immigration authorities; and at the home of Mr Kovtun’s ex-mother-in-law outside Hamburg – all from before the November 1 meeting.

Mr Kovtun is reportedly being treated in Moscow for radiation poisoning. Russian authorities, calling it attempted murder, have opened a criminal investigation into his poisoning.

Mr Kovtun was last night said to be in “satisfactory” condition, despite the Interfax news agency reporting on Thursday that he had slipped into a coma after being questioned by Russian investigators and Scotland Yard detectives.