The Litvinenko Inquiry

Chapter 5: Events in London 16-18 October
6.65 Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun flew from Moscow to London Gatwick on the morning
of Monday 16 October 2006. They stayed for two nights, returning to Moscow on
Wednesday 18 October. The two men attended business meetings with Mr Litvinenko
during the day on both 16 and 17 October, and went out with him for dinner on the
evening of 17 October. For Mr Lugovoy, this was the latest in a series of visits to
London during which he met Mr Litvinenko. For Mr Kovtun, by contrast, this was his
first trip to London and also the first time he had met Mr Litvinenko.
6.66 Monday 16 October 2006 was just over a week after Anna Politkovskaya had been
murdered in Moscow, on Saturday 7 October. The day on which Mr Litvinenko had
attended his citizenship ceremony, and then gone on to the memorial service for
Ms Politkovskaya, had been at the end of the previous week – Friday 13 October.
Arrival in London
Part 6 | Chapters 1 to 8 | The polonium trail – events in October and November 2006
6.67 Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun flew into Gatwick on the morning of 16 October aboard
Transaero flight UN333. The flight arrived at 10.48am. The registration number of the
aircraft that made the flight that morning was EI-DDK.
6.68 In contrast to all bar one of the other aircraft on which Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun
flew during this period, EI-DDK was never tested for radiation by the UK authorities.
I heard detailed evidence as to the reasons for this. Put very shortly, a request was
made by the Metropolitan Police Service to test the aircraft. The aircraft was not made
available and the police believed that the request had been deliberately frustrated by
the Russian authorities. At the same time, the Russian authorities announced that
they had tested the plane and found it free of contamination, although considerable
doubt was subsequently cast on those results.
6.69 These events took place in early December 2006, at the very start of the police
investigation. They involved a number of different parties, both in the UK and in
Russia. DI Mascall gave evidence about these matters. 38 In summary:
a. The Metropolitan Police Service decided on 30 November 2006 that both the
plane on which Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun had flown to London on 16 October
(EI-DDK) and the plane on which they had returned to Moscow on 18 October
(EI-DNM) should be tested for contamination. Both aircraft were operated by the
Russian airline Transaero
b. On 1 December 2006, an official at the British Embassy in Moscow named
Mr Knott notified both the Russian authorities and Transaero of the concern as
to possible contamination of the aircraft, and of the advice that they should be
tested before they next flew 39
c. On the same day, Mr Knott was informed both by officials in the office of
Mr Gennadiy Onishchenko, the then Russian Chief Public Health Officer, and
by Mr Alexander Tarrenets, the Deputy Director of Security for Transaero, that
38
Mascall 9/4-37
39
Mascall 9/9-10
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