Russian businessmen Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun consider themselves victims of polonium-210 and want to make their losses good

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

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They are going to seek an indemnity in a fund that was set up by Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky after the death from polonium poisoning of Russian ex-Federal Security Service officer Alexander Litvinenko in London. Berezovsky, Litvinenko’s widow and Alexander Goldfarb established the Litvinenko Fund Justice in London on April 3. The co-founders declared that they would provide compensation to all who had been exposed to polonium, a highly toxic radioactive substance. They also pledged the intention to assist court suits of polonium sufferers against states or state institutions. “We are going to be first to ask this fund for many-sided help, as we have seriously suffered from polonium and from this whole story,” Lugovoi told reporters on Thursday. Lugovoi, who is considered a witness in the “Litvinenko case” along with Kovtun, said that they “have spent substantial sums on a long examination in a prestigious medical institution and, if necceary, can present to the fund respective payment documents”. Also, “it is difficult to evaluate the whole moral damage inflicted on our families”, Lugovoi said. “We and our loved ones, including children, were in shock, our reputation and business also have suffered,” he said. Kovtun in turn said that he counted on “technical help of the new fund”, including in protection of honor and dignity of Russian businessmen in British court “against several defendants”. “We hope that Berezobvsky’s statement about the help to polonium sufferers is a real and not a populist step, and we want to make sure of it by the example of our own,” Kovtun said.

Bookmark Russian businessmen Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun consider themselves victims of polonium-210 and want to make their losses good