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Suspect in Litvinenko poisoning case ready to testify via video link

Apart from Dmitry Kovtun who is willing to testify, an invitation to testify has been sent to Andrey Lugovoi, who is currently a lawmaker at the Russian parliament

Dmitry Kovtun ITAR-TASS/Mikhail Fomichev

Dmitry Kovtun

© ITAR-TASS/Mikhail Fomichev

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LONDON, March 19. /TASS/. Russian national Dmitry Kovtun has agreed to give evidence through a video link with Moscow in an ongoing British public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian Federal Security Service officer, inquiry counsel Robin Tam said on Thursday.

He said Kovtun has been in touch with the investigation over the past two weeks, expressing readiness to testify in the video conference.

Presiding judge Robert Owen said at a public hearing in January that invitations to testify via a video link would be sent to Andrey Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, suspects in the poisoning of Litvinenko who met with him shortly before his death.

Litvinenko died of polonium 210 poisoning at a London hospital on November 23, 2006. Litvinenko’s health deteriorated sharply after an earlier meeting with his former colleagues Andrey Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun in London at the Millennium Hotel shortly before his death.

British investigators consider Lugovoi, who currently serves as a lawmaker in the Russian parliament, to be the main suspect in the case. Lugovoi denies the charges as the British authorities claim that he was behind Litvinenko’s death.

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