Spy Death: Radiation Tests Continue

Investigators Examine Polonium-210 Traces While Awaiting Results Of Autopsy Of Ex-KGB Agent

(CBS/AP)  An Italian security consultant who tested positive for traces of the same radioactive substance that was found in the body of a poisoned ex-KGB spy is not showing any signs of illness, doctors said Saturday.

Mario Scaramella met with former Russian agent and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko at a central London sushi bar on Nov. 1. Later that day Litvinenko reported feeling unwell, and the 43-year-old died three weeks later — his body withered, his hair fallen out and his organs ravaged.

Scaramella, 36, was "well" and preliminary tests had shown "no evidence of radiation toxicity," said a spokesman for University College Hospital, where Litvinenko died and Scaramella is having tests.

Tests on Friday confirmed that Scaramella had been exposed to polonium-210, the rare substance found in Litvinenko's body before he died in London on Nov. 23. But doctors said Scaramella had been exposed to a much lower level of the radioactive material.

Scaramella's Naples-based lawyer, Sergio Rastrelli, told Italy's Sky TG24 TV that the Italian wasn't in isolation and was meeting with doctors and police.

"He was exposed to the same source as Litvinenko, but at a lower level," Rastrelli said. Scaramella was showing "no external symptoms."

"It's possible he ingested or inhaled the same substance at the same place as the Russian," Rastrelli said, "although fortunately in exponentially lower doses."

Scaramella has said that he didn't eat anything at the sushi restaurant when he was there with Litvinenko because it was after lunchtime.

Also on Saturday, four Greeks were undergoing medical tests for possible contamination by a radioactive substance that killed Litvinenko, private Greek television said Saturday.

The four people were recently in London and stayed at the same hotel as Litvinenko, private Antenna TV said, quoting Deputy Health Minister Thanasis Yiannopoulos.

The four people — who were not identified — were undergoing blood and urine tests at the state-run Dimokritos nuclear research center, Antenna reported. Results were expected early next week.

Also on Saturday, British Airways said three jetliners grounded by investigators looking into Litvinenko's death had been cleared to resume service. Small traces of radioactive substances had been found on the planes, which traveled between Moscow and London since the former spy turned Kremlin critic was poisoned.

"They have all been cleared and they will be back in service in the next few days," said a BA spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

Britain's Health Protection Agency said though low levels of polonium 210 were found on two of the planes, there was no risk to passengers.

Another airline, easyJet, said Scaramella had flown with them to London from Naples on Oct. 31 and returned on Nov. 3, two days after his meeting with 43-year-old Litvinenko. The HPA said there was no risk to the public from those flights.

An official at Russia's Transport Ministry said Saturday that radiation had been found on a Finnair plane in Moscow, and a flight inquiry officer at the Sheremetyevo airport said the Helsinki-bound airbus A-319 had been delayed for several hours. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, and neither would say whether the checks in Moscow were related to Litvinenko's case.

Taneli Hassinen, a spokesman for Finnair, said an initial measurement found slightly elevated radiation levels on the plane, but that they were within the permissible levels. Later measurements found no increased levels and the plane had permission to return to Helsinki with 70 passengers on board, he said.

Another airline, easyJet, said Scaramella had flown with them to London from Naples on Oct. 31 and returned on Nov. 3, two days after his meeting with 43-year-old Litvinenko. The HPA said there was no risk to the public from those flights.

Litvinenko's wife Marina, 44, was also confirmed as having shown traces of polonium, but she was showing no ill effects and did not need hospital treatment, the ex-spy's friend, Alex Goldfarb, said Saturday.

"She has never been in the hospital," Goldfarb told The Associated Press. "She was told that she had minuscule amounts of radioactivity which is totally not considered a health hazard."

Goldfarb joined Marina and the Litvinenkos' son Anatoly for a remembrance dinner on Friday, adding that the boy had been cleared of contamination.

In East Sussex, southern England, police and health officials evacuated and later reopened the Ashdown Park Hotel and Country Club, where Scaramella had been staying, after testing for signs of the substance.

No test results were released, but hotel managers said no radiation had been found.

The Italian health ministry has ruled out any danger to public health in Italy — where Scaramella returned following his visit to London.

Scaramella told Litvinenko on Nov. 1 about an e-mail he received from a source naming the purported killers of Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian investigative journalist gunned down on Oct. 7 in Moscow. The e-mail reportedly said that he and Litvinenko — a friend of the reporter — were also on the hit list.

In a letter released Friday by human rights activists, a former Russian security officer who is now in jail said he had also warned Litvinenko in 2002 about a government-sponsored death squad that intended to kill him and other Kremlin opponents.

The letter by Mikhail Trepashkin was released by rights activists in Yekaterinburg, the center of the Ural Mountains province where he is serving his four-year sentence. Its authenticity could not immediately be confirmed.

Russia's Federal Security Service, the KGB successor agency known by its Russian acronym FSB, has refused to comment on Trepashkin's claim.

In Ireland, meanwhile, officials said tests on former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar were negative for radiation poisoning.

"Testing for radioactive poisoning came out negative," said Rosaleen Harlin of Ireland's health executive.

Gaidar, now a leader of Russia's opposition, became violently ill during a conference in Dublin last week in what his aides have described as another poisoning. He is now being treated at a hospital in Moscow, where his condition has been described as improving.

Three pathologists on Friday completed Litvinenko's autopsy at the Royal London Hospital, coroner Dr. Andrew Reid said. Results of the autopsy may not be available for several days.

[emhawks]

What a tragic, but fasinating story.