Italian linked to spy Litvinenko to be questioned
Italian prosecutors were today due to question an Italian man who met with a former Russian spy in London the day the ex-KGB agent was poisoned.
Mario Scaramella was arrested on Sunday in Naples after returning from London. He is accused of international arms trafficking and slander, and the arrest is not believed to be directly connected to the case of Alexander Litvinenko.
Scaramella met with Litvinenko at a London sushi bar on November 1, the day the former KGB agent fell ill. Litvinenko died of poisoning from radioactive polonium-210 on November 23.
Scaramella is to be questioned in a Rome prison, where he has been held since his arrest.
He has said he showed Litvinenko e-mails from a confidential source identifying the possible killers of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya and listing other potential targets for assassination – including himself and Litvinenko.
On his deathbed, Litvinenko blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for involvement in his poisoning – an allegation the Kremlin has denied.
Scaramella was in hospital for several days in London and said doctors told him he had received five times the lethal dose of polonium-210, although he showed no symptoms.
Italian police searched his home in Naples while he was in London.
Scaramella has been a consultant for the Mitrokhin commission, which was formed in Italy in 2002 with the aim of investigating cases of past KGB infiltration in Italy.
