This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/europe/6219124.stm
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Litvinenko contact 'is in coma' | Litvinenko contact 'is in coma' |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| A Russian businessman who met the former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko on the day he fell ill is now in a coma, Russia's Interfax agency reports. | A Russian businessman who met the former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko on the day he fell ill is now in a coma, Russia's Interfax agency reports. |
| Dmitry Kovtun, a security expert, met Mr Litvinenko at a bar in London's Millennium Hotel on 1 November. | Dmitry Kovtun, a security expert, met Mr Litvinenko at a bar in London's Millennium Hotel on 1 November. |
| Mr Litvinenko was admitted to hospital on the same day and died from radiation poisoning three weeks later. | Mr Litvinenko was admitted to hospital on the same day and died from radiation poisoning three weeks later. |
| Another Russian who was at the same meeting, ex-spy Andrei Lugovoi, is also in hospital. | |
| Earlier on Thursday, workers at the Millennium Hotel tested positive for low levels of polonium-210, the radioactive substance blamed for Mr Litvinenko's death. | Earlier on Thursday, workers at the Millennium Hotel tested positive for low levels of polonium-210, the radioactive substance blamed for Mr Litvinenko's death. |
| Seven workers at the hotel's Pine Bar appeared to have been exposed, the UK's Health Protection Agency said. | Seven workers at the hotel's Pine Bar appeared to have been exposed, the UK's Health Protection Agency said. |
| The agency said the risk to the general public was likely to be "very low". | The agency said the risk to the general public was likely to be "very low". |
| Russian investigation | |
| A funeral service for Mr Litvinenko was held at a central London mosque on Thursday. | |
| The former spy, a vocal critic of the Kremlin, issued a statement on his deathbed accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his poisoning. | |
| The Kremlin has described the allegation as "nonsense". | |
| Russian prosecutors on Thursday announced they would launch a criminal investigation into Mr Litvinenko's death and what they described as the attempted murder of Mr Kovtun. | |
| Speaking before the announcement that Mr Kovtun was in a coma, prosecutors said he had shown some signs of radiation poisoning. | |
| The Russian investigation will run in parallel to a murder inquiry UK police are conducting into the Litvinenko case. |