The Litvinenko Inquiry

Part 5 | Chapters 1 to 8 | Alexander Litvinenko’s final months
“I don’t think naturally as a man he was particularly acquisitive at all, really. I think
sufficiency was… the way he was. He… was never expressing views about buying
Ferraris or Rolex watches or anything like that but I would imagine, though, that
that… may have been affected simply by the Western world…. He was beginning
to understand, unfortunately, the importance of money in a Western economy, but
he was not avaricious and he was not spending money will-nilly.” 27
5.43 Like Mr Reilly, MrAttew understood that Mr Litvinenko had fallen out with Mr Berezovsky
and then made up with him again in the period September to October 2006. 28
5.44 Mr Tabunov, an acquaintance whom Mr Litvinenko met occasionally in central London,
had a slightly different understanding of the position. He remembered Mr Litvinenko
telling him that he had had enough of Mr Berezovsky and no longer wanted anything
to do with him. His memory was that Mr Litvinenko had said that he no longer wanted
or needed any payments from Mr Berezovsky, he did not want to be dependent
on him, and was frustrated because there were always too many people around
Mr Berezovsky to talk in private. In contrast to the evidence given by Mr Attew and
Mr Reilly, Mr Tabunov did not remember Mr Litvinenko mentioning a reconciliation; but
the two met relatively rarely, and Mr Tabunov indicated that Mr Berezovsky was not in
any event a regular topic of conversation. 29
5.45 Mr Shvets’ evidence was that Mr Litvinenko had called him in June or July 2006 and
told him that he had been “fired” by Mr Berezovsky, “because of some intrigues.”
Mr Shvets recalled Mr Litvinenko saying that he had had a stand up row with
Mr Berezovsky, although he added that Litvinenko was an “emotional person” who
would “explode immediately and start yelling at anybody… but then cool down five
minutes later,” and that he had been laughing when he recounted the episode to
Mr Shvets. Although Mr Shvets said that Mr Litvinenko was not in the habit of bearing
grudges for very long, he did not remember Mr Litvinenko ever telling him about any
subsequent meetings or communications with Mr Berezovsky. He added, though, that
he could not imagine Mr Litvinenko ever threatening Mr Berezovsky. He said, “They
were so closely connected for many years that I can’t imagine Sasha threatening
Boris Berezovsky with anything.” 30
5.46 Mr Bukovsky’s memory was that Mr Litvinenko argued over politics and also practical
matters, in particular Mr Berezovsky’s failure to accept Mr Litvinenko’s advice on
security matters. But he said that there had been no personal quarrel between the
two men, and that the friendship between them had remained intact throughout. 31
5.47 I also heard evidence on this point from two of Mr Berezovsky’s employees –
Mr Voronkov, his office manager, and Mr Cotlick, Mr Berezovsky’s personal assistant.
5.48 Mr Cotlick had been aware from discussions with Mr Litvinenko that his regular
payments had been cut, but said that this was not the type of matter that he would
expect Mr Berezovsky to tell him about. As to Mr Litvinenko’s reaction, he said: “I
can’t say that he was pleased with the fact that his salary was reduced, but nobody
would probably. At the same time I have never heard from him a bad word about
Mr Berezovsky.” He said that neither Mr Berezovsky nor Mr Litvinenko had ever said
27
Reilly 10/27-28
28
Attew 13/23
29
Tabunov 13/130-132
30
Shvets 24/56-58
31
Bukovsky 26/91-92
97