Litvinenko case: Berezovsky, Zakaev give evidence

Boris Berezovsky and Ahmed Zakaev have met with Russian prosecutors in London as part of ongoing investigations into the death of the former Russian security officer, Aleksandr Litvinenko.

Litvinenko died after ingesting highly toxic polonium 210 last November in London.

The meeting lasted for several hours in Scotland Yard.

Three people were present in the room – a representative from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, a British police officer and an interpreter, since the questioning was in Russian. 

Despite the fact that both Boris Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakaev are wanted in Russia on a number of very serious charges, this investigation is only connected to Litvinenko’s case.

Both men said that if they needed to answer some questions as witnesses, they were happy to help Russian and British investigators to resolve the mysterious death.

Both wanted the meeting to take place on British soil. Mr Berezovsky agreed to meet with Russian prosecutors only on the condition they were checked for poison and weapons and the meeting was video-taped.

After the meeting with Russian prosecutors, which lasted for about four hours, Boris Berezovsky told Russia Today what happened.

‘I was questioned by Scotland Yard police. An officer from the Prosecutor General’s Office was present there. There was also a translator, because I wanted to present my vision to the officer in Russian, to be sure he understands me well. Because at the beginning he told me that he doesn’t know any word in English,’ he said.

He also confirmed that all his conditions were fulfilled.

‘My final condition was that the meeting should be transparent. It means that everything should be taped. I insisted on video-taping, but they didn’t have a technical opportunity for that, so they just audio-taped it’, Mr Berezovsky concluded. 

There were also one or two other people questioned on Friday by the Russian prosecutors, but their names haven’t been revealed.