Russian accused of Alexander Litvinenko polonium poisoning dies of coronavirus
- The businessman died of a coronavirus infection at the age of 57, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Saturday
- Kovtun allegedly killed Litvinenko with the radioactive poison polonium in 2006. Andrey Lugovoy, also a suspect and a member of Russia’s parliament, confirmed the death
Almost 16 years after the poisoning of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko in London, Dmitry Kovtun, the person accused by the British judiciary of the crime, is dead.
The businessman died of a coronavirus infection at the age of 57, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Saturday.
Kovtun, who had lived in Germany for a time, allegedly killed Litvinenko with the radioactive poison polonium 2006. Andrey Lugovoy, who is also a suspect and a member of parliament in Russia, confirmed the death on his Telegram messaging channel.
“My close and loyal friend Dmitry Kovtun has passed away prematurely. This is an irreplaceable and heavy loss for us,” Lugovoy said.
He and Kovtun are suspected by the British judiciary of killing former Russian intelligence agent Litvinenko in 2006 with the radioactive substance polonium 210.
Litvinenko, a harsh critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused the Russian leader from his hospital bed of being behind the assassination. He died in November 2006 in agony as a result of radiation poisoning.
The pictures of the visibly scarred radiation victim went around the world at the time. Kovtun, Lugovoy and the Russian authorities denied having anything to do with the death.