The businessman Dmitri Kovtun, accused by London of having poisoned and caused the death in 2006 of former spy Alexandre Litvinenkopassed away this week in Russia due to a disease linked to Covid-19,
The one who broke the news was Andrei Lugovoi, deputy and friend of Kovtun. He is also one of those singled out for the spy’s death. “Sad news, my close and faithful friend Dmitri Kovtun died suddenly as a consequence of a serious illness linked to the coronavirus,” the member of the lower house of the Russian Parliament said on his Telegram account.
The state news agency TASS, citing a close friend of the deceased, said that Dmitri Kovtun died in a Moscow hospital.
In September 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held Russia “responsible” for the murder of Alexandre Litvinenko, poisoned with polonium-210 in the UK in 2006a decision that was denounced by Moscow
The ECHR ruled that there was “a strong presumption” that the British investigation’s designated perpetrators of the poisoning, Dmitri Kovtun and Andreï Lugovoi, “acted in the capacity of agents of the Russian state”
How was the case of the poisoned spy
Former KGB and later FSB agent, Alexandre Litvinenko was expelled from the Russian security services for unverifiable reasons. Obtained asylum in the UK in 2001and continued to denounce Russian intelligence corruption and alleged links to organized crime.
According to the British, Lugovoy and Kovtun met him at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, London, and without his noticing a strong dose of “polonium 210” was slipped into his teacupa deadly radioactive element.
The Russian lieutenant colonel, who was 43 years old at the time, He lay dying for three weeks in a London hospital. until finally he died. It is said that in the months before the poisoning he was also investigating the murder of journalist Anna Politkóvskaya and other cases of murder and torture in Chechnya.
Alexander Litvinenko, admitted to the clinic after being poisoned with polonium-210.
Prosecutors in the case identified Lugovoy as the prime suspect in the crime, but Russia consistently refused to extradite him to the UK for questioning. According to Davies, an examination of confidential material provided by the British government “established a prima facie case for the guilt of the Russian state in the death of Alexander Litvinenko”. Lugovoy currently has a seat in the Russian Parliament and enjoys immunity.
According to the Scotland Yard investigation, at that time more than 10 million dollars were spent on the dose of the radioactive isotope with which they poisoned the secret agent.
“Preliminary autopsy results on the former KGB agent suggest that he was given more than 10 times the lethal doseof polonium, the researchers told The Times newspaper.
A dose of polonium sufficient to kill a man represents 15,000 units at a cost of $69 each, according to the newspaper. The amount present in the body of the former agent cost at least 10 million dollars, according to the same source
For the researchers, those responsible for poisoning the agent wanted to make sure that he did not survive in any way. If so, one of the two indicated took the secret to the grave.
