LONDON — Andrei K. Lugovoi, a Russian entrepreneur and former K.G.B. bodyguard accused of poisoning Alexander V. Litvinenko with radioactive polonium 210, was quoted on Wednesday as saying the charges that Russia was behind the killing were “nonsense.”
“Such evidence simply does not exist because Russia wasn’t involved,” Mr. Lugovoi told The Associated Press at his office in Russia’s Parliament, where he became a lawmaker after the death in London on Nov. 23, 2006, of Mr. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. whistle-blower and bitter opponent of President Vladimir V. Putin. “Second, even if somebody had produced it, then I can only say that it’s a fake and speculation.”
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Because of “very hazardous” levels of radiation in Mr. Litvinenko’s body, Dr. Cary said, the examination after his death “has been described as the most dangerous post-mortem examination ever undertaken in the western world, and I think that is probably right.” Physicians wore two protective suits, protective gloves and specialized hoods with air pumped in through a filter, he said.
Mr. Lugovoi and Mr. Kovtun have denied the murder charges. Craig Mascall, a detective inspector with in Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism unit, told the inquiry on Wednesday, “There are still two people wanted for the murder of Mr. Litvinenko, and that’s Mr. Lugovoi and Mr. Kovtun.”
