He died of a COVVI-19 infection, announced a deputy who is also suspected of having fatally poisoned the old spy.
Le Monde With AFP
Dmitri Kovtoun, accused by London of having fatally poisoned, in 2006, the former spy Alexandre Litvinenko, died in Russia from COVID-19, announced, on Saturday June 4, a member of the Duma who is also suspected in this assassination. “Sad news, my close and faithful friend, Dmitri Kovtoun, suddenly died of a serious illness linked to a coronavirus infection,” said Andreï Lougovoï, member of the lower room of the Russian Parliament. “It is a terrible and irreparable loss,” he continued, in a message on his Telegram account.
The Russian news agency Tass, quoting an anonymous relative of the deceased, confirmed that Mr. Kovtoun had died in a Moscovite hospital. In September 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judged Russia “responsible” for the assassination of Mr. Litvinenko, poisoned with Polonium-2110 in the United Kingdom in 2006; A decision denounced by Moscow. The ECHR had estimated that there existed “a strong presumption” that the perpetrators of the poisoning designated by the British investigation, MM. Kovtoun and Lougovoï, “acted as agents of the Russian state”.
exiled in the United Kingdom
Former agent of the State Security Committee (KGB), then of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation, Mr. Litvinenko had been returned to the Russian security services following sulfurous revelations , often unverifiable. Having obtained asylum in the United Kingdom in 2001, he had continued to denounce corruption and the alleged Russian intelligence links with organized crime.
He died on November 23, 2006, a few days after drinking a tea with MM. Kovtoun and Lougovoi in a London hotel where important traces of Polonium-2110, an extremely toxic radioactive substance, had then been found.
His assassination had aroused a serious crisis between the United Kingdom and Russia, which has always denied any involvement.