GERMANY:The scenario following Alexander Litvinenko's poisoning in London last month continued to emerge over the weekend, with fresh developments in three countries.
The case has now focused intensely on the movements of two Russians who met Mr Litvinenko in London at the start of last month on the day he fell ill.
Although now back in Moscow, one of the pair, Andrei Lugovoy, still has not been interviewed by visiting Scotland Yard detectives, despite protesting his willingness to co-operate with them from a hospital bed.
A second man, Dmitry Kovtun, has been interviewed by British detectives. German police confirmed yesterday that he left traces in Hamburg of the radioactive substance which killed Mr Litvinenko, just before he travelled on to London.
The condition of his health has also been under considerable scrutiny, after the Russian prosecutor's office stated he was a victim of an attempted murder from a radioactive substance.
German police confirmed that traces of polonium 210 had been found at a number of places he had visited, including the apartment of his former wife. It is believed he was in Hamburg at the end of October, just before he met Mr Litvinenko at the bar of a London hotel on November 1st.
Both Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun have publicly denied any role in the death of the former KGB colonel. They confirmed they met their former colleague in the Russian secret services at the bar of a London hotel, but insist it was a business meeting.
Mr Kovtun has also dismissed claims in the Russian media that he was in a coma last week. He now faces a German investigation for handling illegal radioactive material, Hamburg chief prosecutor Martin Koehnke confirmed yesterday.
There was "a reasonable basis for suspicion that he may not just be a victim but could also be a perpetrator", claimed Mr Koehnke, though Mr Kovtun has not been accused of murder.
In Moscow, it is unclear how much fresh information the British detectives, who arrived last week, have discovered.
Last night, the spokesman for the British embassy in the city declined to comment on the investigation, but he described co-operation from the Russian authorities as "satisfactory".
Mr Litvinenko's widow, Marina, has also spoken out for the first time since her husband died on November 23rd. She claimed that even if Russia's President Vladimir Putin was not directly responsible for her husband's death, he had still created a climate where opponents of the Kremlin could be assassinated abroad.
"Obviously it was not Putin himself, of course not," she told the Mail on Sunday yesterday. Nevertheless, what Mr Putin "does around him in Russia makes it possible to kill a British person" in London, she said. Mr Litvinenko had become a naturalised British citizen just weeks before his poisoning.
Her comments differ slightly from the death-bed statement of Mr Litvinenko himself, where he had directly blamed the Russian president. Ms Litvinenko also dismissed co-operating with the parallel Russian investigation now under way into her husband's death.
However, other London-based contacts of Mr Litvinenko said that, if their safety could be assured, they would meet Russian officials.
The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed as "absurd" the suggestion that it played any role in the death of Mr Litvinenko.
Instead, government sources in Moscow have suggested that the death may form part of a larger plot to discredit the reputation internationally of Mr Putin.
It may also take libel action against international media organisations for misreporting the case, suggested one state-controlled broadcaster.
The finger has instead been pointed at London-based exile Boris Berezovsky. Mr Berezovsky, who was also a benefactor of Mr Litvinenko, has denied any role in the death.
In a separate twist, jailed former KGB agent Mikhail Trepashkin has claimed that investigators should try to speak with a serving colonel in the FSB (formerly called the KGB).
From his prison cell, where he is serving a four-year term for divulging state secrets, Trepashkin claims that this security officer was one of four masked men who stood beside Mr Litvinenko at a 1998 press conference. At that event, they claimed they had been ordered to kill Mr Berezovsky.
Trepashkin says that the identity of that security officer has never been revealed.