Germans find radiation linked to Litvinenko contact

German police have found traces of radiation in two buildings linked to a Russian businessman who met the murdered ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko on the day he fell ill, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

In a statement released after his death, Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing him. The Kremlin has denied involvement in a case that has spawned conspiracy theories, revived memories of Cold War spying and strained relations between Russia and Britain.

The investigation surrounding Litvinenko's death spread to Germany when radiation traces were found overnight in an apartment belonging to Kovtun's ex-wife in the northern city of Hamburg. Kovtun, who had a flat in the same block, is now in hospital.

Further traces of radiation were found at a building in Pinneberg in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein yesterday which belongs to Kovtun's former mother-in-law.

The traces of radiation could be a sign that a source of radiation had been there previously.

Government officials also investigated a Germanwings jet which Kovtun travelled on to London from Germany on the day that he met Litvinenko but they found no traces of radiation.

Litvinenko was killed in London by a lethal dose of polonium 210, a radioactive substance. British and Russian authorities have opened murder investigations. He died on November 23 and was buried in London last Thursday.

Some reports say Kovtun, who is in hospital in Moscow, is in a critical condition but a lawyer who was in touch with his representatives told Reuters those reports were wrong.

Kovtun travelled to London on November 1 to meet the ex-spy, he told Website stern.de in an interview conducted before he was taken to hospital. It is not clear where he was between Litvinenko being taken ill and his own admission to hospital.

Hamburg police said neither Kovtun nor his ex-wife nor her mother were suspects in the investigation.

Kovtun has denied any part in Litvinenko's poisoning and has offered to help police. He told stern.de he would be happy to give police details of the deal that he was working on with his business partner Andrei Lugovoy and Litvinenko.

Interfax news agency reported on Friday that Lugovoy had damage to vital organs consistent with exposure to dangerous levels of radiation.