The Litvinenko Inquiry

The Litvinenko Inquiry
shortly, Dr Shadrin disputed Mr Kovtun’s account. He said that there had been no
need for Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun to visit him in London at this time, since he had
been a regular visitor to Moscow and they could have seen him there (as, indeed,
they had done previously). Dr Shadrin also said in his further statement that he had,
“no recollection of being provided with any reports pertaining to a US company called
Harvest and Hicks or a person called Mr Byron”.
6.127 The discrepancies between Mr Kovtun’s account and that given by Dr Shadrin are
certainly matters that would have been explored with Mr Kovtun had he given oral
evidence to the Inquiry. Since he did not do so, I am unable to reach any detailed
conclusions on these matters. But what can be said is that I have no reason to doubt
the truthfulness of what Dr Shadrin has told the Inquiry. That, in turn, gives rise to the
distinct possibility that Mr Kovtun has exaggerated, or perhaps entirely fabricated, the
business justification for his travel to London on this occasion. I will return to this point
in due course.
6.128 Before leaving this topic, I should add that secondary contamination was found at a
number of places at CPL’s offices in Grosvenor Street. 114 As we shall see, Mr Lugovoy
and Mr Kovtun paid a number of visits to these offices during the period in question,
and it is not possible to state on which occasion or occasions this contamination might
have occurred.
Meeting at RISC
6.129 The evidence was that Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun attended one further business
meeting on the afternoon of 17 October, on this occasion in company with
Mr Litvinenko. The meeting was with Mr Quirke of RISC. It took place at RISC’s offices
at 1 Cavendish Place, in Mayfair. Mr Quirke had, of course, met Mr Litvinenko and
Mr Lugovoy (although not Mr Kovtun) previously, and I have referred to the evidence
about those meetings above at paragraphs 4.115 to 4.119.
6.130 Mr Quirke gave oral evidence about the meeting. 115 He said that it had been arranged a
fortnight or so in advance by Mr Litvinenko. 116 He was a little uncertain as to the precise
timing of the meeting, but thought that it was already underway by shortly before
6.00pm. 117 It would therefore appear that the meeting took place after Mr Lugovoy and
Mr Kovtun’s meeting with Dr Shadrin.
6.131 Mr Litvinenko had travelled down to central London by bus earlier in the afternoon.
The bus on which he travelled was subsequently identified and tested; no radiation
was detected. 118
6.132 Mr Quirke’s evidence was that the meeting took less than an hour. Mr Lugovoy led
the discussions. Mr Quirke said he had not met Mr Kovtun before and had not been
expecting him to attend. 119 He said that Mr Kovtun took no part in the meeting other
than operating a minidisc containing information. 120
114
Mascall 11/126
115
Quirke 11/86-103
116
Quirke 11/90-91
117
Quirke 11/98-99 (it is clear from the context that words ‘Shortly before 5.00’ in the transcript should read
‘Shortly before 6.00’)
118
Mascall 11/125-126 see paragraphs 6.21-6.24 above for discussion regarding the value of such findings
119
Quirke 11/92
120
Quirke 11/94; 11/101
136