Reuters
Saturday, December 2, 2006

An Italian contact of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko is well after preliminary tests showed no sign of radiation poisoning, a hospital said on Saturday.

Mario Scaramella was admitted to hospital in London when polonium 210, the same radioactive substance that killed Litvinenko, was detected in his body.

The Litvinenko mystery sparked

a public health scare over radiation and strained London's relations with Moscow.

"He is well. Preliminary tests so far show no evidence of radiation toxicity," a spokesman for London's University College Hospital said of Scaramella. Further tests are due to be carried out over the weekend.

Officials said a female relative of Litvinenko -- said by media to be his wife Marina -- had traces of polonium 210 in her urine. They said she was not in short-term danger and any long-term risk was likely to be very small.

Scaramella met Litvinenko at a London sushi restaurant on November 1, the same day the Russian fell ill, to show him e-mails from a source warning both their lives might be in danger.

Litvinenko, a former agent turned fierce Kremlin critic, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his slow, agonising death.

Moscow denies involvement. Other theories have centred on the possible involvement of rogue Russian agents.

Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov promised full cooperation with the investigation.

"From the point of view of... who might have been interested I don't see any reason to speculate - like the Western press is actively doing right now - that these are the long arms of KGB or FSB (Russia's intelligence service) or that Litvinenko knew a lot as a prominent spy, which is totally wrong," Ivanov said.

"There must be a thorough and objective investigation. I'm sure it will proceed and Russia is ready to offer any help." The comments were shown by Russia's state television Vesti-24 which said they were first broadcast by Al Jazeera.

Authorities said traces of radiation had been found at 12 sites and aboard planes which carried more than 33,000 passengers in the past month, many flying between London and Moscow.

NO HEALTH CONCERNS

Health fears eased on Saturday when the Health Protection Agency (HPA) gave the "all clear" to two EasyJet planes that Scaramella flew on as well as three British Airways planes linked to the Litvinenko case.

A BA spokeswoman said two of its planes, on which authorities had found "very low traces of a radioactive substance", had been cleared to return to service.

A third BA aircraft that authorities were interested in had flown back from Moscow to Heathrow on Friday night.

"Testing was done overnight. That monitoring is now complete. That aircraft has also been cleared by the Health Protection Agency. We are just awaiting Civil Aviation Authority clearance," she said.

Authorities say polonium is not dangerous unless swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through a wound.