Friday, December 1, 2006. Issue 3552. Page 1.
4 Airplanes Checked for Radiation
By Carl Schreck, Catherine Belton and David Nowak Staff Writers Mikhail Metzel / AP Security officers guarding a grounded British Airways jetliner at Domodedovo Airport on Thursday. A minivan for radiation specialists is parked nearby.
British authorities said Thursday that they suspected at least four aircraft of being contaminated with radiation, including planes that made trips between Moscow and London, in the latest twist in the death of former spy Alexander Litvinenko.
The planes included three British Airways Boeing 767s and one unidentified plane. Two of the British Airways planes, based at London's Heathrow Airport, were found to have low levels of radioactive materials, the airline said in a statement.
The third plane was grounded at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport and was being examined Thursday, the Federal Protection Service said. A Boeing 737 operated by the Russian carrier Transaero was initially suspected of contamination but was later cleared, Transaero spokesman Sergei Bykhal said.
"The foreign secretary spoke to the Russian foreign minister on Wednesday, the 29th of November, and requested all necessary assistance with the public health aspects of the incident," British Home Secretary John Reid said Thursday in an address to the British Parliament, referring to Britain's Margaret Beckett and Russia's Sergei Lavrov.
"In addition," Reid continued, "she formally requested all necessary cooperation with the ongoing investigation. The Russian foreign minister assured her this cooperation would be forthcoming."
Reid's comments followed Litvinenko's Nov. 23 death.
The former security services operative is believed to have been poisoned with polonium-210. Traces of the radioactive isotope, which can be lethal if ingested, inhaled or injected, were found in his urine. He ultimately died in a London hospital of heart failure.
British Airways is calling on some 33,000 passengers, including those on more than 20 flights between Moscow and London from Oct. 25 through Nov. 29, to contact a hotline it has set up for those with questions about potential health risks.
But authorities in Britain and Russia said the radioactive material was unlikely to pose a serious health risk.
In his remarks to the parliament, Reid said police had found trace levels of radioactive material at 12 of the 24 locations being checked in connection with Litvinenko.
Reid added that the threat to public health might not be contained. "There may be other airplanes of which we don't at this stage know," he said.
Litvinenko was a one-time employee of Kremlin critic and oligarch Boris Berezovsky. His case continued to baffle doctors up to the very end.
British detectives were believed to have flown to Moscow earlier this week as part of their investigation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered few details about British officials' investigation.
"We can't say anything for now because there is too little information," Peskov said. "All we can do is to confirm our readiness again to supply any information that our British colleagues might need and, if necessary, receive our colleagues from Scotland Yard."
Peskov said that as of Wednesday there had been no request from Scotland Yard for further help or information, but added that he was unaware of where things stood Thursday.
Peskov noted that the contaminated planes had been in other cities recently.
A Scotland Yard spokesman, reached by telephone Thursday, referred all questions regarding the contaminated planes to British Airways.
British Airways spokeswoman Maria Shlyakhtova would not comment Wednesday on reports that a team of British forensics experts were traveling to Moscow to inspect the grounded British Airways plane.
But she did say the plane would remain at Domodedovo until British authorities had granted permission for it to be flown back to London. "In that case, the return flight would be noncommercial," Shlyakhtova said. "It would be an empty flight."
Russian officials, meanwhile, are conducting their own investigation.
Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Federal Consumer Protection Service, announced Thursday that his agency was conducting forensics tests to gauge radiation levels at the airport.
"They are inspecting every possible surface that passengers may have come in contact with: the baggage area, passport control, ticketing, the aircraft -- everywhere," said Onishchenko's spokeswoman, Lyubov Voropayeva.
Results from those tests are expected Friday, Voropayeva said.
The Transportation Ministry issued a directive Thursday to all international airports in Russia to increase radiation checks on international flights, ministry spokesman Timur Khikmatov said.
The radiation scare appears to have had little effect on British Airways passengers.
Jennifer Howard, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Moscow for nearly 10 years, said she had flown on two of the planes, on Nov. 7 and Nov. 18, now being inspected for radiation contamination.
Howard said she was planning to contact British Airways to ask whether there was any reason to be concerned. "But I'm still not terribly worried," she said.
British Airways passengers checking in at Domodedovo on Thursday afternoon were either unaware or unfazed by the situation.
"I am not worried about getting on this particular flight," said David Moore, a British businessman. "I guess I'll find out if it's radioactive when I get back to London."
Tamping down fears is the tenuous connection, if any, that some Russian experts see between Litvinenko's death and the contaminated aircraft.
Lev Fyodorov, head of the Union for Chemical Safety in Moscow, said the radiation detected on the British Airways planes could not have stemmed from polonium-210.
Fyodorov told Ekho Moskvy radio that the radiation that had been detected on the contaminated aircraft should not be cause for concern.
A former KGB agent speculated that three or four agents working for the Federal Security Service, or FSB, had been dispatched to Britain carrying polonium-210. "It's sloppy to take a substance on an airplane and go through airport security," said the ex-spy, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal. "It's sloppy, but to be expected. Remember what happened in Qatar."
Chechen rebel leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev was killed in 2004 in a car blast in Qatar's capital, Doha. Qatar authorities arrested and convicted two Russian security service officers for the killing. The officers were later extradited to Russia.
Among those who have caught the attention of authorities is former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi.
Lugovoi, one of two Russians who met with Litvinenko on Nov. 3, the day he is believed to have been poisoned, told Kommersant he flew from London to Moscow on one of the aircraft that had been identified as contaminated with radiation. Lugovoi has denied any role in the poisoning.
The former KGB agent, who speculated that FSB agents had transported polonium-210 to Britain, said he did not think Lugovoi himself poisoned Litvinenko but that he might have been involved in some way.
"He wasn't the only one," the former agent said. "There may have been two or three other agents involved. It looks like the substance may have leaked while they were carrying it, or they have become contaminated by it."
Lugovoi, who worked for Berezovsky in the 1990s as the head of security for ORT television, now Channel One, has said he and an associate, Dmitry Kovtun, had met with Litvinenko to discuss business. Lugovoi could not be reached for comment.
A coroner in northern London on Thursday opened and formally adjourned the inquest into Litvinenko's death at the St. Pancras coroners' court, a spokesman for the council of the London Borough of Camden said in a telephone interview.
"The inquest will reopen at a date to be fixed following investigations by the Metropolitan Police," said the spokesman, who asked that his name not be used. The spokesman said the coroner had also issued a burial order, meaning Litvinenko's family could instruct a funeral parlor to take possession of the body upon completion of the autopsy and with permission from Britain's Health Protection Agency.
President Vladimir Putin has faced a barrage of criticism in the Western media since the 43-year-old Litvinenko issued a deathbed statement accusing the president of the "barbaric and ruthless murder." Putin dismissed the accusation.
Facts about Radiation
Q: What is radiation?
A: Radiation is the transfer of energy. There are two basic types of radiation: ionizing radiation (X-rays, infrared light, gamma rays) and non-nuclear emissions (ultraviolet light, microwave radiation, mobile phone waves). It is usually only ionizing radiation that concerns health officials.
Q: Why is ionizing radiation dangerous?
A: Ionizing radiation has the potential to change molecules in living cells, including their genetic makeup.
Q: What are the symptoms of radiation sickness?
A: Radiation can cause nausea, vomiting, hair loss and burns.
Q: How is radiation detected?
A: A Geiger counter usually is used to detect radiation.
Q: What is polonium?
A: Polonium is an extremely rare, radioactive heavy metal found in uranium. It can also be manufactured artificially in nuclear reactors.
Q: Is polonium dangerous?
A: As long as polonium does not penetrate the human body, it is not dangerous. Polonium is only lethal when inhaled or ingested.
Q: Is it possible that trace amounts of radiation were left by Alexander Litvinenko after he was poisoned?
A: Yes. Theoretically, Litvinenko could have excreted small amounts of polonium through perspiration. Trace amounts of polonium radiation will still be detectable on surfaces for approximately 260 days -- more than eight months -- after they are left.
Q: Is there a public health risk to people who were in areas found with traces of radioactive material?
A: The public health risk to people who might have come into contact with trace amounts of radioactive material is thought to be extremely low.
--The Associated Press