23:50, 13 November 2006

"Commersant": Litvinenko, FSB ex-officer, was poisoned for information on Politkovskaya's murder

Alexander Litvinenko, former FSB (Federal Security Bureau) officer, who fled to Great Britain, has confirmed that he was poisoned on November 1 in one of London restaurants during his meeting with informer Mario Scaramella. He also told that the latter handed over the documents to him containing information about the killers of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the "Commersant" informs.

Mr. Litvinenko asserts that on November 1, in a restaurant in the Piccadilly Circle, Mr. Scaramella gave him a certain document: "I understood from the text that the people mentioned therein could have actually organized Anna Politkovskaya's murder. And we departed almost at once. As soon as I got back home and put down the papers, I fell off at once."

Litvinenko promised to hand the papers obtained from his informer over to the police and journalists of the "Novaya Gazeta," who are running their own investigation of Anna Politkovskaya's murder.