The Litvinenko Inquiry

Part 6 | Chapters 1 to 8 | The polonium trail – events in October and November 2006
Chapter 8: Events in London 31 October –
3 November
6.226 One fact about Mr Lugovoy that emerges with some clarity from the totality of the
evidence is that he was a keen supporter of the CSKA Moscow football team. As I
have mentioned above, when Mr Lugovoy met up with Mr Litvinenko for the first time
in London in October 2004, he was in London to watch a match between Chelsea
and CSKA (see above at paragraph 4.149). Mr Quirke gave evidence that during his
meeting with Mr Lugovoy on 17 October 2006, Mr Lugovoy received a text alert about
a goal that had been scored in a match that was taking place between CSKA and
Arsenal. 203
6.227 It is not, therefore, surprising that Mr Lugovoy should have come to London to watch
CSKA play Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday 1 November 2006.
6.228 Nor did Mr Lugovoy come alone. The evidence shows that, on this occasion, he brought
a group of people with him from Moscow. The core of the group was Mr Lugovoy’s
family – himself, his wife Svetlana, his two daughters Galina and Tatiana, who were
19 and 20 respectively, and his eight year old son Igor. Also in the group were Tatiana’s
boyfriend, Maxim Begak, and a business partner of Mr Lugovoy named Mr Sokolenko.
6.229 The group flew from Moscow to London on Tuesday 31 October 2006. Tatiana and
Maxim caught an early morning flight from Moscow; the rest of the group caught an
afternoon flight. Whilst in London the group (with the exception of Mr Begak) stayed
at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair. They all flew home together on
Friday 3 November.
6.230 The evidence was that this was a long planned trip. The flight bookings had been
made on 12 October 2006. 204 The hotel bookings had been made two days earlier,
on 10 October 2006. 205 DI Mascall referred to evidence that Mr Lugovoy had made
arrangements to obtain tickets for the football match from Mr Shuppe, Mr Berezovsky’s
son in law, in September 2006. 206
6.231 Putting these details into context, it will be seen that this family trip to watch a football
match had been arranged some time before Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun made their
first trip to see Mr Litvinenko on 16 October 2006. The question that I will have to
consider is whether the later visit to London remained simply a recreational trip or
whether, perhaps as a result of intervening events, it subsequently came to serve a
different, additional, purpose.
Arrival of Andrey Lugovoy and his party
6.232 As I have said, the first of the Lugovoy party to arrive in London on Tuesday 31 October
2006 were Tatiana Lugovoya and her boyfriend Maxim Begak. They flew into Heathrow
on BA flight 881, which landed that morning at 7.11am. 207 The registration number of
the aircraft that made the flight that day was G-EUUG. DI Mascall explained that
203
Quirke 11/98-99
204
Mascall 13/168-173
205
Mascall 13/191
206
Mascall 13/165-166; 16/215-216
207
Mascall 13/185-187
155