23:14, 21 November 2006

Skaramella discloses secret of his meeting with Litvinenko

Mario Skaramella gave a press conference for the first time after Alexander Litvinenko, former Russia's FSB agent, was poisoned. The Italian security expert has confirmed that in the evening on November 1 he had dinner with Litvinenko at a sushi restaurant. He wanted to discuss with him the information related to the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. According to Mr. Skaramella, during the dinner Litvinenko looked healthy. Before their talk, Litvinenko had eaten some soup, while Skaramella ate nothing as he was not hungry.

Skaramella declared that he had received electronic letters from his sources - a group of people from Saint-Petersburg - that the targets of Politkovskaya's killers were Litvinenko, Skaramella and Italian senator Guccanti, the Associated Press reports. In Skaramella's words, the information did not appear reliable; therefore he wanted to consult Litvinenko. The Russian confirmed that the data were hardly to be thought reliable, and they agreed to meet again. When next day Skaramella phoned Litvinenko home, his wife told him about his hospitalization.