Chapter 5: Did Alexander Litvinenko poison himself?

¶8.42 One of the possible explanations for Mr Litvinenko's death that has been aired in

public in the time since 2006 is that he poisoned himself by accident, perhaps in the course of handling illicitly obtained polonium 210. Mr Lugovoy has referred to this possibility during press interviews, as have other commentators. Another theory, which was expressly raised at the early stages of the inquest proceedings by those then representing Mr Lugovoy, is that Mr Litvinenko deliberately poisoned himself with polonium 210 in order to commit suicide.

¶8.43 It is plainly important that I examine and make findings on each of these two suggestions.

¶Accident 8.44 DI Mascall gave evidence to the Inquiry about the public comments that Mr Lugovoy

and Mr Kovtun have made about Mr Litvinenko's death since 2006. One such comment was reported by the Voice of Russia in 2009. Mr Lugovoy is reported as having said:

"It cannot be excluded that [Mr Litvinenko's death] was simply an accident for Litvinenko himself. In short, everything is possible since he had been linked to radioactive materials, and there could have been a leak and he had poisoned himself of an accident."⁴⁴ Marina Litvinenko 3/24-25; INQ017734 (page 3 paragraph 7); there are some small points of difference between this evidence and Mr Litvinenko's own account, given without an interpreter at the first session of his November 2006 police interviews – INQ002076 (page 3) HMG000353 INQ019146 (page 22 paragraph 67) Mascall 22/135

¶8.45 As I have said, other commentators have advanced a similar theory – i.e. that

Mr Litvinenko had been involved in dealing with polonium 210, and that he might have poisoned himself with it accidentally.

¶8.46 There are five reasons why, in my view, this suggestion is wholly without merit.

¶8.47 First, there was no evidence from any of the witnesses who appeared before me that

Mr Litvinenko had ever been involved in dealing with radioactive materials – either in the months before his death, or, for that matter, ever. Marina Litvinenko dismissed the possibility,5 and Mr Reilly said that he had no knowledge of any such dealings.6

¶8.48 Second, the pattern of the radioactive contamination found at Mr Litvinenko's house

was inconsistent with this theory. It will be recalled that, although there was widespread contamination at the house, it was almost all low level secondary contamination, the single exception being the sleeve of the jacket that Mr Litvinenko wore on 1 November 2006. If Mr Litvinenko had been in the habit of dealing with leaky containers of polonium 210 in the weeks before his death, a different pattern of radiation would surely have been found. Had Mr Litvinenko been handling polonium 210 at his house, then one would have expected to find primary contamination there. Even if he had handled the substance away from his house, one would have expected that high readings would have been taken from more than one item of his clothing.

¶8.49 It is also of significance in this regard that the contamination readings taken at

¶Boris Berezovsky's offices were all relatively low. The highest reading there was taken

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from a sofa on which Mr Lugovoy had sat. It has been suggested that Mr Berezovsky was involved with Mr Litvinenko's alleged dealings in polonium 210. The contamination evidence does not support that theory.

¶8.50 The third point relates to the route by which the polonium 210 entered Mr Litvinenko's

body. As I have explained above, the scientists were agreed that most, if not all, of the polonium 210 was ingested by Mr Litvinenko, probably in the form of a soluble compound. In lay terms, Mr Litvinenko drank the polonium 210 dissolved in a liquid. Simply as a matter of common sense, it seems unlikely to me that Mr Litvinenko could have accidentally drunk a liquid containing polonium 210. Inhaling the substance by accident would have been more plausible, but this was ruled out as a route of entry for all but perhaps 5% of the fatal dose.

¶8.51 The fourth point concerns Mr Litvinenko's conduct during the three week period of

his illness prior to his death. It is to be remembered that Mr Litvinenko's doctors were uncertain as to the cause of his painful and debilitating symptoms until only a few hours before his death. If Mr Litvinenko had poisoned himself accidentally whilst handling a leaky container of polonium 210, he would have had a good idea of the cause of his illness. Had that been the case, it is inconceivable, in my view, that Mr Litvinenko would not have said something about this either to the police or to one of his doctors, if only to improve the chances of his life being saved.

¶8.52 Finally, the 'leaky container' theory is of course at odds with the findings that I have

already made as to the place and circumstances in which Mr Litvinenko received the fatal dose. As I have found, Mr Litvinenko was poisoned by drinking contaminated tea from a teapot in the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel. The hypothetical 'leaky package' must remain just that. There is no evidence to support it, and, for the reasons that I have set out, the entire hypothesis is inconsistent with the facts that have been established from the evidence.

¶Suicide 8.53 I can deal with this point more shortly.

¶8.54 On the findings that I have already made, this theory must involve Mr Litvinenko

deliberately contaminating the tea in the teapot at the Pine Bar with polonium 210, and then pouring and drinking it.

¶8.55 As I have said above, there is no evidence that Mr Litvinenko had access to polonium

¶210 prior to his death.

¶8.56 More importantly, there is no evidence at all that Mr Litvinenko was feeling at all

suicidal at the time in question. I heard evidence from his wife and from a number of his close friends, none of whom thought it was remotely plausible that Mr Litvinenko might have taken his own life. I have summarised their evidence on this issue at Part 5, chapter 8. Mr Litvinenko was deeply committed to his wife and son. He was not at all depressed.

¶8.57 I would only add that Mr Litvinenko survived for three weeks after ingesting the fatal

dose of polonium 210. If he really had poisoned himself in order to end his life, he would surely have said something to his wife, or the police, or one of his friends about what he had done.

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¶Conclusion 8.58 For the reasons set out above, I am sure that Mr Litvinenko did not die as a result of either accidentally or deliberately poisoning himself with polonium 210.

¶8.59 Further evidence against both of these theories may be found in the strong evidence,

as I consider it to be, that supports a third explanation for Mr Litvinenko's death, namely that he was deliberately poisoned by others. It is to that issue that I shall now turn.

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