Are we allowed to use the word “insidious?”(NOTE: There is a denial of this report see below) Or must we watch what we eat and breathe from now on if we do? We’ll say it: it is insidious:
Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun, a key figure in the poisoning investigation of ex-security agent Alexander Litvinenko, is in a coma, a Russian news agency reported Thursday.
The Interfax news agency, citing unnamed sources, said Kovtun fell into a coma immediately after being questioned by Russian investigators and Scotland Yard detectives. “By the doctors’ diagnosis, Kovtun’s condition is critical,” Interfax quoted the sources as saying.
The news came hours after Britain’s Health Protection Agency said seven employees at a London hotel tested positive for “low levelsâ€? of the highly radioactive polonium-210.
They’re dropping like (poisoned) flies.
UPDATE: However, his lawyer is saying the report is wrong. The Russian news agency Novosti reports:
The lawyer of a witness in the case of Russian security service defector Alexander Litvinenko’s murder said Thursday reports claiming Litvinenko’s contact Dmitry Kovtun is in a critical condition are false.
Russian media reported earlier Thursday that Kovtun, a business partner of witness Andrei Lugovoi, had fallen into a coma after being questioned by Russian and British investigators probing Litvinenko’s death.
Andrei Romashov, a lawyer for Lugovoi, a businessman and former Federal Protection Service officer, said: “I have just clarified the facts. This can only be called a provocation. Kovtun’s condition is satisfactory.”
The lawyer said he had spoken to representatives of Kovtun, also a witness in the Litvinenko murder case.
“I called them, and they said Kovtun feels normal,” he said.
“Provocation” is a word used quite a bit in Russian politics. It basically means a set-up. But in the nature of Putin’s Russia — much as the in nature of the old Soviet Union — people will read it several ways. Some will take it at face value. Others will say it’s a denial so the report is false. Others will wonder if this is a CYA statement.
We WILL take it at face value here until newer reports state otherwise. But unlike some sites we won’t just eliminate this post with no acknowledgement that we ran a post based on what appears to be wrong reporting. (And if this update proves false, we’ll update the update).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.