Dmitry Kovtoun is suspected of having killed former Russian secret agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. He died of coronavirus in Moscow.
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Dmitri Kovtoun, accused by London of having fatally poisoned ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, died in Russia from the consequences of the coronavirus, announced on Saturday June 4 a Russian deputy also suspected in this assassination. “Sad news, my close and faithful friend, Dmitry Kovtoun, died suddenly after a serious illness related to a coronavirus infection”said Andrei Lugovoi, member of the Lower House of the Russian Parliament.
In September 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Russia “responsible” of the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned with polonium-210 in the United Kingdom in 2006, a decision denounced by Moscow. The Court held that there was “a strong presumption” that the perpetrators of the poisoning designated by the British investigation, Dmitry Kovtoun and Andrei Lugovoi, “acted as agents of the Russian state”.
Former agent of the KGB, then of the FSB, Alexandre Litvinenko had been fired from the Russian security services after sulphurous, often unverifiable revelations. Having been granted asylum in the UK in 2001, he had continued to denounce the corruption and alleged links of Russian intelligence with organized crime.
He died on November 23, 2006, a few days after drinking tea with Dmitry Kovtoun and Andrei Lugovoi in a London hotel where significant traces of polonium-210, an extremely toxic radioactive substance, were later found. His assassination had sparked a serious crisis between the United Kingdom and Russia, which has always denied any involvement.