Family of Russian businessman possibly contaminated by polonium in Hamburg

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Former wife of Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun, her two children and her partner were hospitalized in Hamburg suspected of being contaminated by polonium 210. Head of the German investigation Thomas Menzel informed reporters on it at a news conference in Hamburg. “Contamination means that trails of polonium were found on clothes of a person, although it is not clear yet whether it was internal contamination by polonium, so there is high concentration of polonium in the organism,” he said. According to him, all the four were delivered to hospital where they undergo medical tests. Only after final results one can determine whether they had internal contamination by polonium.

As earlier Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said, Kovtun, who met Alexander Litvinenko in London was tested positive for an illness caused by the nuclide contamination. Trails of radiation were also found in apartments in Hamburg visited by Kovtun before he went to London.