Russian investigators are to visit the British Scotland Yard soon

Friday, August 7, 2020

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Russian investigators are to visit the British Scotland Yard soon. Representatives of the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office are going to question in London over 100 witnesses on the death case of ex-Federal Security Service officer Alexander Litvinenko, including Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky and YUKOS co-owner Leonid Nevzlin. Deputy Prosecutor-General Alexander Zvyagintsev said on Monday that that Home Office was examining the Russian side’s request to question over 100 people within the framework of the investigation into the death of Litvinenko and an attempt on the life of businessman Dmitry Kovtun. Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika told reporters on Tuesday that “Russia has questions to Berezovsky on other cases too, but in this investigatory inquiry the talk is only about the ‘Litvinenko case’”. He dismissed allegations about a misunderstanding between Russian and British sides. “Cooperation is going on actively; yesterday, we exchanged views, and all questions were lifted,” he stressed. A representative of Scotland Yard told an Itar-Tass correspondent in London on condition of anonymity that British police did not yet have concrete plans of sending another group of detectives to Moscow. He said that such trip was possible, but there were no “ready plans” of it. Russian and British investigators first met over the Litvinenko case in Moscow in December. The British delegation then interrogated Kovtun, as well as businessmen Andrei Lugovoi and Vyacheslav Sokolenko. The Russian investigating team is going to question a lot of witnesses in London and to examine some rooms. Deputy Prosecutor-General Alexander Zvyagintsev said that “we ask for carrying out these acts with the participation of our investigators, and we hope that the British colleagues will respond and help as rapidly as we have helped them recently”. “We have formulated in our request the questions to which we would like to have answers. And we have very many questions on this case,” he said. The Prosecutor General’s Office earlier said that it presumed a link between the death of Litvinenko and a criminal case in which charges were brought against several senior executives of the oil company YUKOS. It said that “obtained information indicates a relation between the criminal case on the murder on the territory of Britain of ex-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, as well as the attempt on the life of businessman Dmitry Kovtun and the criminal case in which several senior executives of YUKOS were accused of committing crimes against the life and health of citizens”. Litvinenko died in London on November 23 of poisoning with the radioactive substance polonium-210. Scotland Yard is investigating his death. The Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office opened criminal cases in connection with Litvinenko’s death and the attempt on Kovtun. The investigation engages the Interpol.

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