Poisoned ex-spy's contact warned of death threat
Source: Reuters
By Phil Stewart ROME, Nov 21 (Reuters) - A contact who met Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian ex-spy whose poisoning has sparked accusations of a Kremlin assassination plot, said he showed him an organised crime hit-list bearing his name on the day he fell ill. Mario Scaramella, who has helped Italy's parliament investigate Cold War-era Soviet espionage, said he met Litvinenko at a London sushi bar to show him emails from a mutual source warning their lives may be in danger. The threat came from organised criminals based in St. Petersburg, possibly acting on behalf of Russia's government, Scaramella told Reuters. His source suspected the same criminals killed a Russian journalist last month. Both dismissed the four-page warning as unfounded, he said, adding they were both accustomed to hearing of possible threats. "I said Alex, I received an alarm in the last few days from a source that you introduced to me," Scaramella said, speaking to reporters in Rome in English. "He said: 'It's unbelievable. Don't worry about that'." Litvinenko, 41, a persistent critic of President Vladimir Putin, says he fell ill after the meeting three weeks ago. He had been investigating the killing of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, also a vocal critic of Putin, who was gunned down at her Moscow apartment on Oct 7. Scaramella, who describes himself as a consultant but is also an Italian judge, refused to speculate who was behind the poisoning. But he said the email warned the threat was from the same criminals who killed Politkovskaya. It included targets in Britain, Italy and elsewhere, and included the names of at least one Italian senator. "It (the email) said, take care ... They are quoted to be involved in (the killing of) Ms. Politkovskaya," he said. SOUP AND SUSHI Scaramella said he skipped the sushi because he had eaten earlier in the afternoon at Pizza Hut. He said Litvinenko grabbed some chilled food from a self-service refrigerator and had hot soup served to him "from the people in charge". The two agreed to speak the next day, but when Scaramella telephoned Litvinenko on Nov. 2, his wife answered saying he had caught flu "like half of London". He is now in intensive care in a London hospital. The toxicologist treating him said the poison may have been laced with a radioactive substance to render it more lethal. But doctors say they may never know what was used to poison him. Scaramella said he had himself tested for poisons in Rome, but the results were negative. Britain's anti-terrorism police are investigating the case, which could have far-reaching diplomatic consequences. Litvinenko, now a British citizen, co-authored a book in 2002 entitled "Blowing up Russia: Terror from Within", in which he alleged Federal Security Service agents co-ordinated apartment block bombings in Russia that killed more than 300 people in 1999. Officials blame the bombings on Chechen rebels.
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