RUSSIA:Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned weeks earlier than investigators realise, Andrei Lugovoi, the Russian businessman who met him in London on November 1st, has claimed.
His unexpected allegation has added yet another twist to the possible timing of when and how Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB colonel, may have unknowingly consumed a fatal dose of polonium-210.
Mr Lugovoi said that since traces of polonium were found at a London security firm Mr Litvinenko visited in mid-October, he must have been ill for much longer than either police or doctors realised.
"Who told you that the contamination took place on November 1st? It took place much earlier, on October 16th," Mr Lugovoi told a Russian newspaper yesterday.
So far, British police are believed to have concentrated on locations Mr Litvinenko visited after November 1st, the day he met the alleged Italian "spy expert", Mario Scaramella, at a sushi bar in the city and first complained of feeling sick.
Crucially, Mr Litvinenko also met Mr Lugovoi and his business associate Dmitry Kovtun on the same day.
Both men met Scotland Yard detectives in the past week in Moscow, where they are being treated at a clinic for exposure to polonium. Separately, Mr Kovtun suggested Mr Litvinenko may have contaminated him in mid-October too - before he travelled to Germany where he also left traces of the radioactive substance at the home of his ex-wife.
On German TV, Mr Kovtun defended himself. He insisted the only way he could have become contaminated was from Mr Litvinenko - not the other way around. He pointed out he also met Mr Litvinenko on October 16th, 17th and 18th, backing up the comments of his colleague.
Both Moscow-based businessmen have admitted meeting their former security services colleague while in London, but have insisted they played no part in the poisoning.
Instead, they have said they were there to discuss a business plan with Mr Litvinenko and to watch Arsenal play CSKA Moscow on November 1st. They have declined to elaborate on their precise dealings with Mr Litvinenko.
Last weekend, it was revealed traces of polonium-210 were found in locations in Hamburg visited by Mr Kovtun in late October, just before he travelled on to London.