U.K. tests nine for radiation, Italian security expert who met poisoned Russian under protection AP

[applegrove]

U.K. tests nine for radiation
Italian security expert who met poisoned Russian under protection
Nov. 29, 2006. 01:00 AM
JILL LAWLESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS


LONDON—"An Italian security expert who met with a former KGB agent the day he fell ill with radiation poisoning was under British protection and being tested for contamination yesterday, and officials ordered tests for eight people who exhibited possible symptoms.

Mario Scaramella has said he met the ex-spy turned Kremlin critic, Alexander Litvinenko, at a London sushi restaurant on Nov. 1, the day Litvinenko became sick. Litvinenko died last Friday.

Scaramella said he showed Litvinenko emails from a confidential source identifying the possible killers of a Russian investigative journalist and listing other potential targets for assassination, including himself and Litvinenko. In a deathbed statement, Litvinenko blamed the Kremlin for his poisoning, which has cast a shadow over British-Russian relations.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said "there is no diplomatic or political barrier in the way" of a thorough investigation. Blair said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the case "at any time that is appropriate." Putin has strongly denied any Kremlin links to the poisoning.

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