Germans link radiation to ex-spy’s contact

Radioactive traces also have been found on a document Kovtun brought to Hamburg immigration authorities; and at the home of Kovtun’s ex-mother-in-law outside Hamburg — again from before the Nov. 1 meeting.

Another Russian, security firm head Vyacheslav Sokolenko, has said he was at the hotel but did not participate in the meeting.

Lugovoi has denied that the men were involved in the ex-spy’s death.

German prosecutors did not say whether they suspect Kovtun might have been involved in Litvinenko’s death. But they said they were investigating him on suspicion he may have improperly handled radioactive material.

‘The Third Man’
Officials said that any connection between Kovtun and Litvinenko’s death would have to be investigated by British police — rather than by the Hamburg police task force, code-named “The Third Man” in an apparent reference to the 1949 film about a mysterious death in postwar Vienna.

“We still believe that both variants are possible: that he may be a victim, but also that he may have been involved, at least in procuring the polonium,” prosecutor Martin Koehnke said Sunday.

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

Whatever his role, at this point, “we have to assume that Mr. Kovtun already had this polonium-210 contamination on him when he came to Hamburg Oct. 28 on a flight from Moscow,” police investigator Thomas Menzel said on ARD television.

Traces discovered in apartment
Traces were found in his ex-wife’s apartment, where he is believed to have stayed before flying to London. Menzel said Monday that she, along with her partner and two small children, may have been contaminated and were undergoing tests. Traces of radiation were found on the partner’s jacket, on washed and unwashed clothes at the apartment, and in the ex-wife’s bedroom.

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.

Lugovoi, Kovtun and Sokolenko all graduated from an elite military academy in Moscow. Their fathers were Soviet officers who served together at the Defense Ministry, and they went to the same military academy. Kovtun has said he graduated in 1986, a year ahead of Lugovoi.

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