22:43, 4 December 2006

Scaramella blames Litvinenko of nuclear materials smuggling

Italian Professor Mario Scaramella, who had dinner with Alexander Litvinenko, ex-FSB employee, on the day of his poisoning, said that in 2000 Litvinenko was in charge of a secret operation of contraband delivery of nuclear materials from Russia to Zurich, Switzerland.

The Sunday Express, a British tabloid, writes in this connection that this confession, coupled with Akhmed Zakaev's assertion about Litvinenko's taking Islam shortly before his death, provokes thinking that Litvinenko could have poisoned himself. According to the newspaper, now the Scotland Yard investigators should thoroughly explore the implication of the ex-FSB officer to the al-Qaeda's attempts to make a "dirty bomb," which is scattering hazardous radioactive materials as a result of a usual non-nuclear explosion, the "Gazeta.Ru" writes.

Earlier, Litvinenko's friends told in their interview to the Independent newspaper that they knew nothing about nuclear materials smuggling, in which Litvinenko allegedly could have been involved under FSB commission.