Spy probe focus on London hotel

Another man at that meeting, businessman Dmitry Kovtun, was being treated in a Moscow hospital after he showed signs of contamination with Polonium-210, a rare radioactive element.

Britain’s Health Protection Agency confirmed on Thursday that seven employees of the hotel had also tested positive for exposure to radiation.

A meeting between detectives and Lugovoi “could happen today,” his lawyer Andrei Romashov said on Friday. British officers, who are being supported by intelligence agents, have spent several days attempting to interview Lugovoi without success. Russia’s Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika said on Wednesday that British police would not be permitted to question Lugovoi directly, but could attend while Russian officers conducted the interrogation.

A Russian news agency reported on Thursday that Kovtun had slipped into a coma after meeting Russian investigators and Scotland Yard detectives.

But Romashov denied that report on Friday, saying Kovtun’s condition was “the same” as before and during the interrogation.

Lugovoi, 41, is being tested for signs of polonium whose traces have been found at several sites he visited recently, including the London’s Arsenal soccer stadium and the British Embassy in Moscow.