Berlin: Radiation sites link to Litvinenko contact
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Traces of radiation found at two sites in Germany linked to a contact of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko likely are the rare radioactive substance polonium-210, authorities said Sunday.
Police said on Saturday that traces of alpha radiation had been found at properties in and near Hamburg used by the ex-wife and former mother-in-law of Dmitry Kovtun.
The Russian businessman met Litvinenko in London on Nov. 1, the day the former spy is believed to have fallen ill. Litvinenko was killed by polonium-210.
Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection said in a statement Sunday that "small traces of radioactive substances were detected, and there is a high degree of probability that this is polonium."