The Rest Is Classified - 171. The Murder of Litvinenko: Killed in Plain Sight (Ep 3)

Episode Date: June 28, 2026

Russian assassins are closing in on Alexander Litvinenko… But who will deal the fatal blow? Listen as David and Gordon explore the dramatic moments leading up to the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026 at The Rest Is Fest: Buy your tickets ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see David and Gordon live on stage at London’s Southbank Centre on 4 September: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/the-rest-is-classified-live/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------------------- Sign-up for our free newsletter where producer Becki takes you behind the scenes of the show: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/goalhanger.com/tric-free-newsletter-sign⁠-up⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------------------- Join the Declassified Club to go deeper into the world of espionage with exclusive Q&As, interviews with top intelligence insiders, regular livestreams, ad-free listening, early access to episodes and live show tickets, and weekly deep dives into original spy stories. Members also get curated reading lists, special book discounts, prize draws, and access to our private chat community. Just go to ⁠⁠therestisclassified.com⁠ or join on Apple Podcasts. ------------------- Get a 10% discount on business PCs, printers and accessories using the code TRIC10. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://HP.com/CLASSIFIED⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more information. T&C's apply. ------------------- Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@restisclassified⁠ Video Editor: Joe Pettit Social Producer: Emma Jackson Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe Producer: Becki Hills Head of History: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For exclusive interviews, bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to series, first look at live show tickets, a weekly newsletter, and discounted books. Join the Declassified Club at the Rest is Classified.com. Russian assassins are closing in on Alexander Litvinenko. But who will deal the fatal blow? Well, welcome to The Rest Is Classified. I'm David McCloskey. And I'm Gordon Carrara.

And we are in the third episode of this series. examining Alexander Litfenenko, former Russian FSB security service officer who is in London and is causing some problems for Putin and the people around him. And we spent a lot of the last time talking about Litvinenko's work in due diligence, examining Russian oligarchs officials for firms in the UK, how that put him in conflict with some Putin allies and sabotaged a business deal cost Putin allies money. We looked at Litvinenko's work as a consultant slash access agent for MI6. And we're now approaching October 2006 in what will become the last several weeks of Alexander Litfenenko's life.

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And you're right next to artists like me, Lizzo. So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify advertising. You're among fans. Last time we did look at a lot of the reasons why the Russian state had it in for him. But what's interesting is once you get to this point, the intensity really starts to build of these different strands coming together. He's getting repeated messages and phone calls from Russia, sometimes pass through intermediaries, threatening him, telling him to come back, you know, warning him, he's not safe. we talked about how the FSB views him as a traitor back to that famous press conference he gives. I mean, they even use pictures of Lipvinenko for target practice at a special forces training center.

I find that really interesting. It does suggest he was pretty well known within the Russian security establishment as a hate figure if they're using his picture. So you've got this sense of animosity. He's becoming more vocal in his attacks on Putin, under Beresovsky's patronage. Beresovsky is getting more involved in plotting. Putin's overthrow. There's lots of plotting going on,

around him, of which he's part of. There's also little things which could also act as triggers. We talked a bit about the personal antagonism that Lipvinenko has about with Putin, going back to that meeting in the FSB. Then in July 2006, Litvinenko publishes this article on the Chechen Press website.

In fact, he's writing for that. tells you something as well. It's a really strange article. It couldn't have been more inflammatory or designed to antagonize Putin because it accuses President Putin of being a paedophile. I mean, it uses an incident where Putin kisses the stomach of a small boy publicly, you know, as he's kind of walking around and doing stuff and claims that, you know, this is a sign that he's a paedophile and this has been covered up. I mean, there is no evidence actually to support this. There is no basis for it. It's a really insensual. injury claim to make, I think. It's kind of suggests he's moving in perhaps more, you know,

he's always been quite obsessive, but he's becoming even more inflammatory in some ways. Well, Litvinenko is prone to conspiracy theories and conspiracy thinking. I mean, at one point he had actually tried to blame the 7-7 bombings in 2005, which accorded London, on the FSB. It made me wonder if he's, I mean, does it discredit him more broadly, these kind of wild claims? I don't know if it discredits him, but it's, it's nuts, you know, to claim publicly that Putin's a pedophile.

Yeah, he's becoming more obsessive, more antagonistic. I think he's drawn to trying to wake people up to Putin and to the FSB and making pretty more, you know, pretty outrageous claims to try to do that. then of course there's the due diligence work we talked about the business deal so there's and the work he's potentially doing with MI6 trying to tap up Lugavoy his business partner in due diligence to work for MI6 Lugavoy's told the FSB and at the same time it's worth saying Russia is also changing it's becoming more aggressive two big new laws get passed in Russia in 2006 in March and July now ostensibly they're about counterterrorism an

extremism and one particularly follows the killing of five Russian diplomats by a Chechen supporting terrorist group in Iraq. And their laws allow Russia to go after terrorists and extremists anywhere around the world. Now, the issue of course is who do you interpret, who you de... Who's a terrorist? Yeah, exactly. You know, I guess seen from Russia a former FSB officer who's claiming that Putin's a pedophile and who's also working for MI6 and, you know, cratering business deals for your buddies.

He's an extremist. He'd fit in that category. If you're Putin. Yeah. So in July 2006, after the second law is passed, the Times newspaper in London publishes a letter written by Vladimir Bukovsky, who's a dissident, talked about him earlier. And Ola Gordievsky, a friend of the show, former KGB officer,

and it's ahead of a meeting in St Petersburg of the G8, where Putin's going to be there along with Western leaders. And these two Russian exile say the stage is set for any critic of Putin's regime here, especially, meaning London, especially those campaigning against Russian genocide, as they put it in Chechnya, to have an appointment with a poison-tipped umbrella. So these are people warning.

We know about poison-tipped umbrellas, don't we, David? Well, not personally. Not personally. No. Not personally. Yes, yes. Well, and what year was that? Late 70s, 78?

Yeah. But this idea that Russians are capable of killing people is a warning there. And Marina says he, Alexander Lipnienko, these laws as a personal threat. So you can see that Livenenko is becoming more aggressive, doing more things, and Russia's becoming more aggressive in its response.

So now as we get to October, as the net is closing around him, and we're going to really dive quite deep into those final weeks, the first thing that happens is one of his own friends is killed. Anna Politskofkaya was a crusading Russian journalist on the Navoya Gazeta newspaper, which is an independent newspaper. Big critic of Putin, she'd investigated. FSP, human rights abuses in Chechnya, she's a friend of Lipvinenko, visits him in London, she is shot by gunman outside her Moscow apartment 7th of October 2006.

And this really was a, I mean, it was a big deal, I think, for us journalists as well at the time, because she was a kind of prominent campaigner, you know, investigator and just shot. And, you know, Lipvinenko breaks down when he hears the news. And he will believe Putin is responsible. Well, October of 2006 is also a big month for Litfenenko because he's granted UK citizenship at a ceremony on the 13th of October. I think that when he came to London, I mean, he took his son to the tower and basically said, this country took you in and, you know, never forget, never forget that the UK

has saved us. He's flying an English flag from his home's balcony during the World Cup that summer. He's got British citizenship. It makes him very happy. Marina says he's very proud to be British, proud for his son to be British, and this was his future. Now, after this citizenship ceremony, I mean, gives you a sense of the intensity of these days, just gets his citizenship. Then he goes to a memorial event in Westminster for Politzkoffkaya, the journalist. And he takes his son, Anatolia long. And he sees these other dissidents there, his old friends. And he says to one, I just received my citizenship. Now they will not be able to touch me. And to Bukovsky, he says, it makes. It makes a lot. me more secure, doesn't it? It protects me. And Vukovsky answers, I had to smile and say, well, not much, not really. I mean, the tragedy is he's just got his citizenship, but he actually only has weeks left to live. And just three days later, just three days after that, his assassins will arrive on the first of what will become several trips. So I guess worth, at this point, going back to

Kovtun at Lugavoy, who arrive in London on the 16th of October, so just a few days after Liffinenko has been made a UK citizen. Yeah, and it's Kovtun's first time in London. Lugavoy's been there for these business meetings before. They fly from Moscow to Gatwick Airport,

just south of London, arrived 10.48 a.m. A policeman, interesting enough, a policeman thinks they look suspicious and actually questions them and remembers them being evasive, but they give a phone number for business meetings they've got, which checks out. So he does, you know, this police officer,

it's kind of impressive in a way that he just thinks they're suspicious. And they're eventually allowed to go in. There's not much you can do. They're going to stay at the best Western in Sharsbury Avenue. 300 pounds a night back in 2006. I mean, not cheap, London hotels. But the details, I mean, we have really granular detail about this. I think it's really worth going into it

because it gives a sense of what's going on and the details, the mechanics of the plot. They change into some business clothes on arrival at the hotel, which the staff think look very Russian, shiny suits and big chunky jewelry. I think they look like the Russian mob, basically. Then that afternoon, they meet Litvinenko and one of these business due diligence contacts at the boardroom.

They're discussing the possible deal with Gazprom. The room's not very big, room for about six chairs or so. tea and coffee on the table. Lugavoy suggests Lipvinenko and others have a drink. Seems quite insistent. And we will come back later

to evidence the police will find that the Russians did try and poison Lipa Njanko at this meeting, at this moment. But the problem is he doesn't drink anything. So it's the first attempt and it's a miss. After that, three Russians

go to Itzu. Have you been to Ittsu? Sushi place. It's like a chain sushi place and piccadilly. And this is also, this particular Ittsu, sushi place, is going to be an important scene for the investigation. So it's worth remembering that. Litvinenko then goes home.

Marina had prepared spicy chicken soup for dinner. Litvinenko liked hot food and he ate the soup with some hot peppers. But then sometime after the meal, he starts to feel a little bit ill. And he vomits, throws up his food, but just once. And Marina will say continue to feel a little bit unwell for the next two days, but not that bad. So, you know, a bit of an upset stomach. Lugervoir and Covton, though, go out for dinner, fancy place in Mayfair, oysters, grilled lobster and tuna steaks.

Is it clearages, Gordon? Did they go to clerages? I don't think they're quite in your category, David. They're not quite as... Gordon, Gordon, no, no, no, don't try to besmirch me in this way. You would... One of our... well, our first breakfast is London. Gordon, for his meeting at London. Before even the podcast, long before it.

Long before the podcast. The podcast was just a twinkle in goalhanger's collective eye of sore on eye. That's right. We had breakfast at Claridgeus. My usual table at Claritis, right. I had breakfast most mornings. Yeah. Mr. Carrera again.

Mr. Carrera is here. Here to do business at Claridge's. But so Lugavoy and Cofton, we don't. What fans? Where do they go in Mayfair? Do we doubt? I'm not sure. I could probably find the name of the restaurant. fancy place. Oistair's grilled lobster and tuna steaks. Pretty good. Then they go to a bar and they buy a shisha pipe at a bar. It's another kind of Russian mobster thing to do. No offense

to anyone out there who has shisha pipes. No offense to the Russian mobsters who obviously listen to the rest of the best. So that's that day, their first day there. Next day, Tuesday 17th. This is where it also gets interesting when you get to the detail. The detail is so interesting. because Lugabein Kovtun move from the best Western hotel to the Parks Hotel in Knightsbridge for the second of their two nights. Now this is even though they'd booked for two nights at the first hotel and they paid for it and they don't ask for a refund. Hmm.

And this will later be thought to be because they'd contaminated the room with a poison. They'd potentially poured it down the sink and they were like, I don't think we want to stay here for another night. And so that looks to be why they suddenly move. So here they are. New hotel. They meet a businessman who they're doing some work for. They meet Libyanco again at the offices of Risk, one of the due diligence firms.

They're working on this vodka case. Then the three of them go back to the Parks Hotel, where the two visitors are staying, go to a dinner at a Chinese restaurant named the Golden Dragon. So I've got one restaurant name in. Never been. I don't know if I've been there in Gerard Street. I don't know if they're one of our sponsors. But anyways.

Well, after this podcast, definitely not. Definitely not. But I think we get sponsorship from Itzoo either. They then go to a cafe Bohem, a bar in Soho. Litvinenko here says he only drinks green tea and a glass of Coke at the restaurant. But he says the other two have been drinking. He'd been offered some, but he refuses. Goes into a bar, doesn't like it.

He's home by 11. Linfenko sounds like he's not having a lot of fun with these guys. I think what's happening is, and we'll come back to these guys, These guys are like, we're in London from Moscow. It's party time. And he's the wife's at home, his son's at home. He's a family man. It's like, I don't want to do this.

I've got to do a bit of it with the business guys. You know, I mean, we all know those business meetings where someone is out for a good time and you're like, I just want to go home to bed. I just think it's time to go home. I mean, it also sounds like Godf, dude at Lugelpoit, as we've gone through their it itinerary, they haven't been working very hard. Let's be honest. I mean, they've mostly been drinking and eating out. And this is the next detail. It's great because Lugavoy earlier in the day had asked at this hotel reception for a recommendation for a place where he and Covtoon could meet girls. Now, the receptionist suggests a place across the road, which was a brothel. I think the receptionist knows exactly what these two Russians are after. And also, and this is one of those details, which is just nuts, a particular Italian pizza restaurant where the receptionist says you can have pizza with extras. I don't know.

But when I'm asking for extras on my pizza, it's anchovies normally or maybe olives. You're not normally led to a back room of the pizza shop. But this is an Italian pizza restaurant that is also a brothel. Yeah. But then instead, they don't go to that place. Because Lugavoy and Coffield now go to a bar called Hey Joe, which I think is what is called a gentleman's club, David. a gentleman's club. Is that what you call them in the UK?

Yeah, but not the gentleman's club of like, you know, the reform. Travelers. Yeah, not that. This is a particular type of gentleman's club, which I learned reading, you know, the reports into this, had mirrors, dance floors and cubicles. And supposedly this detail, I should say, comes from Luke Harding's book, a very expensive poison. Because I've never been to Hay Joes, just to clarify that.

Because Hay Joes also included a bronze phallus. somewhere and a penis-shaped tap in the bathroom. This is a different world from our normal world. But these guys, they go to Hey Joes, and they get back to the hotel at 3 a.m. 10 a.m. the next morning, they check out and head back to Oscar. What a business trip they've had. What a business trip.

I mean, these guys, just to sum it up, what they have done over this three-day run is gentlemen's clubs, drinking, eating out, and attempted murder. And then they go home hung up. over to Bosco after sleeping for, you know, three hours. I mean, what a trip. What a trip. And not the last trip they will take because Lugavoy is going to return just a week later

on a BA flight this time, but just alone without Coftun. And he books for flights and hotels only the day before. So this is interesting because this isn't clearly a pre-planned business trip. He's doing it in a hurry. Perhaps one could surmise because they didn't manage to. achieve what they really wanted to achieve on the first business trip. So he's going to book into room 848 of the Sheraton Hotel. He meets a Georgian businessman in Surrey, who is a friend of Beresowski and who'd co-run the TV channel where he worked. As a footnote, this Georgian businessman,

Badri Patakatishvili is found dead later in 2008. Maybe a heart attack, maybe not, who knows. But another one of those, if you're keeping count, it's another one of those people we meet who ends up dead. Logovoy also sees Berosovsky during this trip. Fact he sees Beroski's in person. I think it's interesting. Suggests, you know, they're still close, goes shopping, has some business meeting. Meet Lipvignonko's hotel bar early evening of the 27th. Lipponienko drinks tea, Lugrevoy red wine. They discuss the plan for Lugavoy to come with Lipponienko to Spain in November to do this work on, you know, the Russian mafia in Spain, you know, and bring down the Russian mafia. It's all kind of interesting. Now, here's what's interesting. Now, here's what's interesting.

at this point there's no sign, no evidence, that Lugavoy tried to poison Lippenianco when they're drinking together. And the reason, it will come back to the evidence for this later, because it looks like something's gone wrong for Lugavoy. It looks like he may have spilled the poison he's using in the bathroom at the hotel in which he's staying. I'll come back to the future how he does it. And so it means it's another fail. You know, the trip is over. he's got to go back to Moscow having failed to do it. It's going to need to come back again.

Well, we'll come back to this poison spill. Like, it just feels insane to me that the most valuable thing you've brought with you on the trip, you're like, it's like inspector clues out. Like what you just spill the thing in the bathroom. But yeah, it just, it's remarkable. It's remarkable. And I find it interesting with Ligabor and Covtoon because there's an element of clownishness and, you know, with their, you know, phallus clubs and gentlemen's clubs and, you know,

and spilling poison. And yet, as we'll see, the guys are killer. I mean, allegedly, allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. Okay. Yeah, good job, Gordon. Yeah.

That covered me legally. But, you know, that's the thing. It's this weird mix. And I think you often see it with these Russian cases, don't you? Where they're both kind of clownish. We'll see it again with the, you know, other poisonings in the future. And dangerous. And that's these guys.

So two attempts, kind of attempts. One more still to come. So there, let's take a break. and when we come back, we'll look at the crucial day that leads to Alexander Libbynianco's death. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up?

That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.cair, every style, every home. Welcome back. It's the 31st of October 2006, and Lugovoy has returned to London. with his wife, two daughters, an eight-year-old son-in-toe, as well as a few friends,

for what else, Gordon, but a football match. And this is Arsenal versus CSKA Moscow? Is that right? You a big fan of the Arsenal? No, they're Bin Laden's team, though, right? They are. And Keir Starmer. Ed Kier Starver, yeah.

Lugavoy is also, well, he's a CSKA Moscow fan. He's not an Arsenal fan. He's not with Bin Laden and Kier-Starmer in the stands. That's right. Now, this is interesting, I think, because he's here with his family. He's here with his daughters, his son, also some friends, and they'd planned this holiday. But at the very last minute, Covtoon is added to the trip. At the very last minute, the decision to bring Covtoon is taken midway during Luggevoy's previous day when he's at this hotel where he spills the poison.

Hmm. Now, does that seem suspicious to you? I mean, you know, halfway through a trip in which you may have spilled some poison, you go, you know, I might need you to come for the next trip. You know, I'm coming next week. Come along. I mean, you can see when you look at it in hindsight what's going on there, can't you? You can. There's also, this is making me think that there is a set of interactions that we're not going to be able to talk about

because I don't think anyone has ever unearthed any evidence around them, which is the interaction between Lugavoy and Kovtun and the supplier of the point. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Who is probably like these guys can spill in the poison. They keep coming back. Yeah. We have a failed attempt. I wonder what Lugavoy told them it happened on the trip where he had spilled the poison.

Because I'm getting a guess he didn't admit to spilling the poison. No, I agree. In the bathroom. I would like to see that, see that interaction now. Wonder how that went down. So I think, you know, the likelihood is he spilled it on the second trip, and he now realizes this social trip with his family, is going to have to be another murder attempt, and it'll help to have Kovtun coming along.

Kovtun comes up with all kinds of weird stories that he's coming to London by chance or that there's a business meeting. It's very confusing. But, you know, the assumption is that he's been asked. Now, this is where it gets also very interesting with Kovtun, because what's he been doing? And this is, you know, another wild bit of the story. Kovtun has been in Hamburg, and he flew there on October the 26th. And something very interesting happens here, according to German police who investigate it later. Coffton is there to see his ex-wife and kids. But during it, we talked about he used to work at this restaurant, this place called I'll Porto.

And he gets one of the people he worked with as a waiter at Il Porto in the mid-90s, which is in the harbor area of Hamburg. He gets in touch with them. They kept in touch after they both left. They made up to play chess, interesting enough, have a beer. Covtoon telephones him on Monday, October the 30th and asks if they could meet. They go for a walk after eating. And I mean, this is wild. Do you want to read this bit?

Sure. This is from his friend who's recalling the meeting with Litvinenko in Hamburg. Dmitri asked whether I knew Litvinenko or had heard of him. I answered no. Dmitri said word for word, quote, Litvinenko was a traitor. There is blood on his hands. I went on to say that Litvinenko does deals with Chechnya, and then he asked me whether I

do a cook who was working at London. And then he tells him a name which has been anonymized as C2. It's a witness C2, who was a cook at Ile Porto who had gone to England. And he goes on to say, I cannot remember the exact words. Dimitri said that he had a very expensive poison and needed the cook to administer it to Litvinenko. I cannot remember whether Dimitri said he had the poison. I did not take seriously what Dimitri said. I thought it was just talk. And then the friend is later asked by German police to remember the exact details and he says this. Koften said, I need this cook to put poison

in Litvanenko's food or drink. He also said the poison is very expensive. As I have said already, I did not take him seriously. I said to him he was crazy. It would be much easier to shoot Litvinenko. I said jokingly. Covtoen said after that it is meant to set an example. I answered that he should stop this nonsense. I mean, Covto, we should say, we'll dispute this and also the witness will not be willing to repeat it when asked to testify because they don't want to get involved in it for reasons you can kind of understand. But it's a wild conversation. I mean, you know, you're basically, I mean, you're basically giving away what you're trying to do there.

And, I mean, Coftoon, I mean, again, it's this kind of sense, slightly idiocy of Covtoe, to just tell this other waiter. So Coftoon has told a friend, I mean, he's in contact with this guy, but it's a friend who's in Hamburg, so he's not like a super close associate. Coftoon has basically said, there's a hit out on this guy. I'm in charge of the poison. Do you know someone in London who will help be administering? Yeah. It's really from an operational security standpoint, an unwise thing to do. It doesn't take a former CIA officer to tell me that that is bad tradecraft. I think that's bad tradecraft, telling random former waiters about your plot to assassinate someone with a very expensive poison. And so he's given the name of this chef who's supposedly an Albanian in London.

Cofton then heads straight from Hamburg to, to, to London. He gets an early flight, 6.30 a.m. He goes to the hotel to meet Lugavoie. Now, this hotel is interesting as well, because Lugavoy and his family are staying at this place called the Millennium Hotel, which is on one side of Grosvenor Square just across from what was then the U.S. Embassy, David, you must have been there. I've stayed at the Millennium Hotel. Oh, have you? I have. Yes, yes. I stayed there on a liaison trip to visit with British counterparts. It was years, of course, later that this. Yeah.

But yeah, because the embassy was just literally at the stone's throw. Yeah. From where it used to be. Yeah. So, you know, all of this is happening and will happen, as we'll see, in the shadow of the U.S. embassy. It's interesting. Lugavoy is going to call Livenenko trying to arrange a meeting. Kovtun's arrived.

He's not actually even got his own room. He's sharing with one of Lugavoy's friends, which, again, is a bit weird. They're all there for the, for the football match, right? And then suddenly, Kovun at the last minute, has pitched up. up. So they're like, okay, you stay, you stay with this other guy. So now we come to the day, the crucial day, November the 1st, 2006. Lugavoy. Lugavoy books his family on the big bus sightseeing tour of London at 10, 26am. I mean, it's again, these details are just bizarre, aren't they? Got to get him out the way, I guess, one way. Yeah, exactly. He needs an activity

to put everyone out of his way for a few hours. He's going to meet Kovtoon. They're going to call Beresovsky. They're going to go to some business meetings in the morning. They're going to called a chef. So this Albanian chef, who they, you know, El Porto Cofftun has been connected to, but to see if he can meet up, but he's busy. He's out in Stratford, way out in East London.

He's busy. They say, okay, we'll call you back. But this is interesting because already the plan of kind of getting this chef involved is falling apart because he's busy. And immediately after they call the chef, Lugavoy calls Lippinenko. It's close to midday. And

Lugaboy calls Lippinenko. And Lugaboy will later claim that it was Lipplyenko which called him, but the phone records show they're calling Lipvinenko. And it looks like they'd originally planned to meet the next day, but Lugavoy is asking to bring the meeting forward. Maybe it's they've got no chef, you know, having a problem getting a chef, they're going to do it themselves. Litvinenko had been at home that day.

He heads into town. First, he meets a boss from one of the due diligence companies. But then he gets an unexpected call from our friend Mario Scaramela. Remember him from earlier on? So the guy who was working on the Italian Matrokin Commission, the consultant there. And Scaramela says he wants to meet urgently, a little bit suspicious. He wants to meet right now, that afternoon today. So he and Lippenenko meet a Piccadilly circus.

And Scaramela always likes a bit of a spy trade craft. He's into, you know, he's one of those people. but he's much more nervous than usual. Some might think suspiciously nervous. Let's eat, the Italian says. So they go to its soup. The sushi place. The same sushi place at 3pm for half an hour.

Now this meeting is fascinating because Scaramel is handing over some documents, but he's also passing on news he's had from a contact. And the news is that there is a hit list of people who are thought to be enemies of Russia who are going to be eliminated. And Scaramela's source has told him that the killings have already started. And Allah Polotskovkaya was one of those on the list.

And of course, you know, we were talking about the fact she had been just killed a few weeks earlier. Scaramela says his name is on this hit list. Boris Beresovsky is on this hit list. And so is Litvinenko. And Scaramela says some people might be shot and some people might be poisoned with radioactivity. Tivallium, Scaramelo's been told. He is really worried and he's telling Litvinenko to warn him. I mean, it's a weird, interesting coincidence, but somehow word is getting around.

But Lindvienko seems, Lipvinenko seems to think, well, you know, I'm always getting warnings. Who knows? So right after this warning, what Litvinenko then does is he heads to meet the poisoners. Kovtode Lugavoy, calling them to say. say he's on the way. Now, Covton and Lugaboy have gotten back to the back of their hotel. It's around 3 p.m. At 3.30, there's CCTV footage of the two of them of Coptin and Lugabe boy, going separately to the toilets by reception at the Millennium Hotel. And then at 4 o'clock, Lipvinenko arrives. We're going to go into this in real detail because it's important. Lugaboy approaches Lippenianco

reception and says we're meeting at the bar and he takes him over to the pine bar, which is the kind of wood panel bar just next to reception. Don't know if you drank there, David, in your time? Maybe, maybe not remember it. I don't remember it. Maybe there was, maybe by this point there was a warning to not go to the pine bar. Yeah, maybe. Because of what happened.

Washing out the pipes. One interesting fact is there are CCTV cameras everywhere in this hotel, all around reception, none in the pine bar. pine bars crowded There are two small tables pulled together in reception and Lugavoy guides Lippenianco to these tables.

Now Cofftun is initially away on the phone Litvinenko sits opposite Lugavoy, kind of diagonally opposite. Lugavoy had been there for a while already and had ordered drinks and he'll end up racking up more than a 70-pound bill covering cigars and champagne cocktails. It's back to the fancy lifestyle. It's not clarege's money, but it's not nothing to sniff at either.

Don't you have, you have the receipt, though, right? So the receipt for that table was three teas, three Gordon's gin and three tonics to go with it, one champagne cocktail, one Romeo and Julieta cigar, a number 11 Gordon's gin. looks like the total bill was £70.60. So they begin talking about business meeting they're going to have the next day. Lugavoy's in a rush because he needs to get to the football with his family, says he doesn't have long.

A waiter comes over to the table. Lugavoy says to Lippinenko, if you want to order something for yourself, then you can, but we're leaving soon. There's still some tea left here, though. And Lugavoy indicates a teapot, which is already on the table. And there's been an order for green tea

with lemon and honey, which is Lipvinenko's drink, basically. And the tea had been made in this large white porcelain pot behind the bar, but it's always left to customers to pour out. Lugervoy doesn't seem to push Litvinenko to drink it. Seems quite laid back about it, which is interesting, isn't it? He's not like going, have some tea, which I guess you wouldn't, would you? Well, and they've already kind of pushed some drinks on him in earlier visits. So they're probably thinking, let's not do that again.

It is also interesting because I don't think of either Lugavoy or Kovtun as tea drinkers, and yet they've got this pot of tea because they know that Lidvanenko is. It is kind of, I think, smart what they're doing because they've said they've got to go soon. So there's probably not time to order something. If Lippenenko order something, he's probably worried, I'm then going to have to pay the bill. And it's expensive. So, you know, you don't want to get caught with a bill if you're Lip Vennonko. So he's kind of thinking, oh, well, you know, it's fine.

They're talking about the plan that they're going to go to Spain together, Lugavoy Litvinenko. And Litvinenko, as they're talking, pours out about half a cup of green tea. There wasn't much left in the pot, which suggests maybe it had been drunk, whatever. But he doesn't see anyone else drink from the same pot. Now, the tea is already cold, and he also normally has it with sugar. So he has a few sips, maybe three or four sips, and that's it. It just doesn't taste that nice because it's cold and it's not sweet enough.

Interestingly enough, if he'd have more than the long drawn-out death which he's going to face would have been much quicker. And actually the whole story could have been quite different. No one else drinks from the pot. Covtoon comes back to the table. Just before 4.30, Lugervoy's friends and his wife and kids turn up in the lobby of the hotel. The lobby is right next to the bar. The wife waves. And then something really odd happens.

Lugavoy brings his eight-year-old son over to Lipvinenko and says, this is Uncle Sasha, Sasha being the kind of name for Alexander, the diminutive, shake his hand. They shake hands and the boy leaves. Interesting, isn't it? I would not have, probably wouldn't have asked my eight-year-old son to shake the hand of the guy I just poisoned with an exceptionally powerful and radioactive poison, but, you know, I don't know. I just maybe I'm an overly protective father, Gordon.

That just doesn't seem. It seems, it seems odd. It also, I guess it suggests that Compton and Lugovoy maybe don't understand what sort of poison they've been given. I think that feels right to me. I think they think it's something you're going to, I mean, they're right. It's something you put in a drink that you're going to ingest. But I don't think they understand its radioactivity and therefore that there's a risk of wider contamination. Because otherwise, you just wouldn't do it.

You wouldn't bring your son over. But they have this encounter around 4.30. So about after half an hour or so in this pine bar, Litvinenko leaves. Libyanko then goes to Berezovsky's office on Down Street, actually the same one I visited four years earlier, maybe to show him the documents that Scaramello has given him, you know, all the stuff about plots. Because, of course, there's plots against Beresovsky's life,

against as well as Litvinenko's, according to Scaramela. And then Ahmed Zakayev, the Chechen friend of them both, will drive Litvinenko home that evening back to North London. He doesn't know it, but he's now a dead man walking. Well, Gordon, I think there with the soon-to-be fatal radioactive poison delivered to Litvinenko and that teapot. Let's end this episode and we come back next time. we'll see how the really horrific and drawn-out process of his death unfolds

and what it says about the regime of Vladimir Putin. Of course, if you don't want to wait, don't wait, go and join the Declassified Club at the Rest is Classified.com, where you'll get early access to all of the episodes in this series, including the bonus episodes we'll be doing what we'll be talking with some very interesting guests, including a police officer who was heavily involved in the investigation into Litvinco's murder. We'll see you next time. See you next time.