The killers of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko may have harmed the health of thousands of Londoners as they trailed radioactive polonium-210 around the city, a lawyer for British police said Thursday.
Richard Horwell told an inquiry into Litvinenko’s death that the killing — which police blame on two Russians directed by elements in the Kremlin — may have exposed “hundreds if not thousands of Londoners” to radioactive contamination.
“We will never know how dangerous the exposure of polonium to the public at large will be and what long-term effects will be visited on Londoners,” Horwell said.
Litvinenko, a KGB officer-turned-Kremlin critic who fled to Britain in 2000, died in 2006, three weeks after drinking tea laced with polonium-210 at a London hotel. On his deathbed, Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his assassination — a claim Moscow denies.
British authorities say there is evidence of Russian state involvement, and police have accused two Russians who met Litvinenko in London, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi, of carrying out the killing. Both deny involvement.
Horwell said the “the science is such that the finger points unwaveringly” at Kovtun and Lugovoi.
“The Metropolitan Police Service want Lugovoi and Kovtun to be tried in this country for murder,” Horwell said.
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