The Litvinenko Inquiry

The Litvinenko Inquiry
witness C2. Witness C2 was a cook at Il Porto and he told me that he wanted
to go to England. I cannot say whether witness C2 is his first name or surname.
Also, I do not know actually whether witness C2 ever went to England. I gave
Dmitri the name without knowing exactly whether he was in fact in England. I
cannot remember the exact words. Dmitri said that he had a very expensive
poison and needed the cook to administer it to Litvinenko. I cannot remember
whether Dmitri said he had the poison. I did not take seriously what Dmitri
said. I thought it was just talk.
Q: Try once more to remember the exact words?
A: Kovtun said, ‘I need this cook to put poison in Litvinenko’s food or drink.’ He
also said the poison is very expensive. As I have said already I did not take
him seriously. I said to him he was crazy. The cook is married, I meant witness
C2, it would be much easier to shoot Litvinenko, I said jokingly. Kovtun said
after that, ‘It is meant to set an example.’ I answered that he should stop this
nonsense. I asked him in addition why he told me of all people. I did not say
anything more on this subject after that.
Q: Did he say anything else on the way to the casino?
A: He said he would soon have his own flat in Moscow. I replied that that would
be nice and I could come and visit him there.”
6.213 D3 added that he did not think that Mr Kovtun had been drunk at the time of this
conversation. He said that Mr Kovtun had behaved normally for the rest of the evening.
They had spent only a short time at the casino and had then both gone back to sleep
at D3’s flat. He said that Mr Kovtun had left early the next morning.
6.214 D3 was subsequently asked again about this conversation at an interview with the
German investigators in January 2007, 193 and again at the interview in September
2010. 194 On both occasions, D3 gave the same basic account of this conversation.
There were some variations in what he said, but none were significant.
6.215 D3 was also asked during both of these interviews why he had not given this account
at the time of his first interview. He answered at some length. 195 In summary, he said
that he had been – and remained – afraid to be involved in what he described as
“this huge affair”. He said that initially he had hoped that the police “could solve this
case alone”. His fears appear to have included a concern for his physical safety – for
example, he said that he was worried that “something may also happen to me” –
but he was clear that Mr Kovtun had never threatened him, including in at least one
telephone conversation that had taken place since Mr Litvinenko’s death.
6.216 Mr Kovtun provided a response to D3’s evidence in his statement dated 2 June 2015.
He said: 196
“I would add that during that meeting D-3 and his friend [D5] were smoking heroin;
I was shocked to see D-3 doing this because he had never done it before. [D5]
by contrast, is a heroin addict with a long record for using hard drugs. I was very
pained by those circumstances. It is entirely possible that it was in fact the use of
193
Mascall 30/73-74
194
Mascall 30/83-92
195
Mascall 30/60-65; 30/108-112
196
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