Russian, UK police question man who met Litvinenko

MOSCOW, Dec 6 (Reuters) Russian and British investigators today interviewed one of the Russians who met ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London on November 1, the day he fell ill from radiation poisoning, a lawyer linked to the case said.

Lawyer Andrei Romashov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency that investigators from the prosecutor-general's office and Scotland Yard questioned Dmitry Kovtun yesterday and Wednesday.

''My main client, Andrei Lugovoy, has not been questioned yet,'' Romashov said. Lugovoy, also a former ex-KGB agent, is seen as a star witness in the case.

Litvinenko died on November 23 from radiation poison from polonium 210. Lugovoy says he and Kovtun met Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Kremlin, at a London hotel on November 1.

Separately, Interfax quoted Lugovoy as saying the investigators interviewed Kovtun in the same hospital where he was receiving treatment, apparently for radiation poisoning.

''I do not rule out that after this conversation with my partner the investigators will decide to have a talk with me,'' Lugovoy was quoted as saying.

''I repeat once again that I have never refused to meet the English investigators,'' he said.

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