The Litvinenko Inquiry

Part 6 | Chapters 1 to 8 | The polonium trail – events in October and November 2006
6.250 In conclusion, the question that I posed at the outset of this section remains unanswered.
There must have been a reason for the decision, which the evidence shows to have
been taken at short notice, for Mr Kovtun to fly to London and join Mr Lugovoy’s party
there. The different (and conflicting) explanations that Mr Kovtun has given over time
are unconvincing. What was the reason?
Movements of Kovtun and Lugovoy – morning of 1 November
6.251 DI Mascall gave evidence about the movements and activities of Mr Lugovoy,
Mr Kovtun and the rest of the group from the morning until the late afternoon of
1 November 2006. In outline:
a. There is CCTV evidence of the whole group (that is, the five members of the
Lugovoy family, Mr Sokolenko and Mr Kovtun) leaving the hotel together at about
10.08am 221
b. Witness and documentary evidence demonstrates that at 10.26am Mr Lugovoy’s
credit card was used to pay for tickets for a ‘Big Bus’ sightseeing tour of London,
commencing at Marble Arch. Four adult and one child’s tickets were purchased.
It appears that Mrs Lugovoya with her three children and Mr Sokolenko went on
the tour. 222 As we shall see, they returned to the hotel later that afternoon
c. Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun appear to have walked on from Marble Arch together.
The telephone schedule indicates that at 10.42am Mr Lugovoy made a short
telephone call to Mr Berezovsky’s offices, which were nearby. 223 It is possible that
he popped in to Mr Berezovsky’s offices at this stage to collect the tickets for the
football match. Another possibility is that the meeting between Mr Lugovoy and
Mr Berezovsky at which Ms Tregubova’s security was discussed took place at
about this time
d. The Visitors’ Book at 58 Grosvenor Street, where CPL had its offices, records
that Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun arrived there at some point in the late morning of
1 November 2006 (the entries for Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun are dated 31 October,
but the sequence of the timings on the page suggest that these entries were in
fact made on 1 November). 224 There is other evidence, to which I shall return, that
they were there that morning. DI Mascall stated that cell site evidence suggested
(although he was careful not to put it higher than that) that the two men arrived at
the CPL offices at about noon and stayed there for a number of hours 225
e. The telephone schedule indicates that two potentially significant calls were made
from Mr Lugovoy’s mobile phone shortly after 11.30am. 226 At 11.33am, a call lasting
1 minute and 14 seconds was made to C2. A few minutes later, at 11.41am, a call
lasting nearly five minutes was made to Mr Litvinenko. As I have indicated above,
DI Mascall stated that the cell site evidence tended to suggest that the calls were
made before Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun arrived at the CPL offices
221
Mascall 16/34
222
Mascall 16/36-38
223
INQ020044 (page 4)
224
INQ006389 (page 5); Davison 14/121
225
Mascall 16/45-49
226
INQ020044 (page 4)
159