The Litvinenko Inquiry

Part 8 | Chapters 1 to 6 | Who killed Alexander Litvinenko?
Chapter 5: Did Alexander Litvinenko poison
himself?
8.42 One of the possible explanations for Mr Litvinenko’s death that has been aired in
public in the time since 2006 is that he poisoned himself by accident, perhaps in
the course of handling illicitly obtained polonium 210. Mr Lugovoy has referred to
this possibility during press interviews, as have other commentators. Another theory,
which was expressly raised at the early stages of the inquest proceedings by those
then representing Mr Lugovoy, is that Mr Litvinenko deliberately poisoned himself with
polonium 210 in order to commit suicide.
8.43 It is plainly important that I examine and make findings on each of these two
suggestions.
Accident
8.44 DI Mascall gave evidence to the Inquiry about the public comments that Mr Lugovoy
and Mr Kovtun have made about Mr Litvinenko’s death since 2006. One such comment
was reported by the Voice of Russia in 2009. Mr Lugovoy is reported as having said:
“It cannot be excluded that [Mr Litvinenko’s death] was simply an accident for
Litvinenko himself. In short, everything is possible since he had been linked to
radioactive materials, and there could have been a leak and he had poisoned
himself of an accident.” 4
8.45 As I have said, other commentators have advanced a similar theory – i.e. that
Mr Litvinenko had been involved in dealing with polonium 210, and that he might have
poisoned himself with it accidentally.
8.46 There are five reasons why, in my view, this suggestion is wholly without merit.
8.47 First, there was no evidence from any of the witnesses who appeared before me that
Mr Litvinenko had ever been involved in dealing with radioactive materials – either in
the months before his death, or, for that matter, ever. Marina Litvinenko dismissed the
possibility, 5 and Mr Reilly said that he had no knowledge of any such dealings. 6
8.48 Second, the pattern of the radioactive contamination found at Mr Litvinenko’s house
was inconsistent with this theory. It will be recalled that, although there was widespread
contamination at the house, it was almost all low level secondary contamination, the
single exception being the sleeve of the jacket that Mr Litvinenko wore on 1 November
2006. If Mr Litvinenko had been in the habit of dealing with leaky containers of polonium
210 in the weeks before his death, a different pattern of radiation would surely have
been found. Had Mr Litvinenko been handling polonium 210 at his house, then one
would have expected to find primary contamination there. Even if he had handled the
substance away from his house, one would have expected that high readings would
have been taken from more than one item of his clothing.
8.49 It is also of significance in this regard that the contamination readings taken at
Boris Berezovsky’s offices were all relatively low. The highest reading there was taken
4
Mascall 22/135
5
Marina Litvinenko 4/8-9
6
Reilly 10/61
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