The Litvinenko Inquiry

6.269 Mr Kovtun went on to say that he had not called C2 on 2 November because he did not
know when he would be free. He therefore decided that he would postpone meeting
C2 until his next visit to London. He added that he and Mr Lugovoy had subsequently
opened a restaurant in Moscow.
6.270 Mr Kovtun’s account raises many questions. As with other similar instances, the fact
that Mr Kovtun did not give oral evidence has deprived the Inquiry of the opportunity
to explore such questions with him. On this occasion, however, Mr Kovtun’s account
is so lacking in credibility, and has been so compromised by the evidence of other
witnesses, that I have concluded that it must be rejected without having heard
Mr Kovtun’s response. I have taken this view for two broad reasons.
6.271 First, the reasons that Mr Kovtun has given for seeking to contact C2 have an intrinsic
lack of credibility. It defies common sense to think that anyone planning to set up a
restaurant in Moscow would seek to recruit as its chef an Albanian living in the UK,
in particular one who did not speak Russian. And if, contrary to this, Mr Kovtun really
did think that C2 was the only man for the job, why did he give up so easily, so that he
never in fact put the proposal to him? Even if it was not possible to meet up in person
in London, Mr Kovtun could have spoken to C2 by phone.
6.272 Second, key elements of Mr Kovtun’s account have been refuted by C2 and by
Dr Shadrin, whose evidence on these matters I accept. C2 was not Mr Kovtun’s
“friend”. C2 said that they had never been friendly whilst they were working together –
for the understandable reason that they did not speak a common language – and that
by November 2006 they had not been in any form of contact for six years. 245 C2 also
denied that there had ever been any planned meeting between him and Mr Kovtun at
4.00-5.00pm on 1 November 2006. 246 He further denied that when Mr Kovtun called
him on 1 November he had suggested that Mr Kovtun come to meet him at a location
that was three or four hours travel away from central London. He said that he did not
suggest meeting Mr Kovtun at all, he simply told him that he was busy. And even if he
had asked Mr Kovtun to come and meet him where he was that day – in Stratford –
C2 said, and he was plainly correct in this, that Stratford is only a 45 minute journey
from central London. 247 Dr Shadrin also rejected his claimed involvement in this part
of Mr Kovtun’s conversation with C2. He said: 248
“I have been asked if I can recall a telephone conversation that Mr Kovtun had
whilst he was in company with Mr Lugovoy at the CPL offices on 1 st November
2006. In particular I have been asked whether Mr Kovtun sought my advice about
directions to a district of London and the time it might take him to travel to that
location for another meeting including my mentioning that it would take him 3-4
hours to get there because of traffic congestion at that time of the day. I have no
specific recollections with regard to this issue. I couldn’t conceive that it would
take that long to drive anywhere in London however I do know from personal
experience that that could be the case in Moscow.”
6.273 I therefore conclude that the elaborate explanation that Mr Kovtun has given for the
call that he made to C2 at 11.33am on 1 November amounts to a tissue of lies. As
I indicated above, this conclusion will be of importance when I come to determine
whether D3’s account of his conversation with Mr Kovtun in Hamburg should be
245
C2 24/24; 24/ 27; C2 32/45
246
C2 32/42
247
C2 32/43
248
INQ022384 (page 3)
Part 6 | Chapters 1 to 8 | The polonium trail – events in October and November 2006
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