GERMANY:German police have quarantined with suspected radiation poisoning the former wife of a businessman who met former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko on the day he was poisoned in London.
Police in Hamburg said Marina Kovtun (31), her children aged three and one, as well as her partner (27) were undergoing medical tests in Hamburg after being exposed to the radioactive isotope Polonium-210 through contact with her ex-husband Dmitry Kovtun.
German investigators say they have "almost no doubt" that Mr Kovtun brought the deadly substance from Moscow to Hamburg on October 28th, but are unable to say whether he did so knowingly.
Police have found contamination on the car he used in Hamburg, on the couch in Ms Kovtun's apartment where he spent one night, and at her mother's house as well as on an immigration document he signed.
On November 1st, Mr Kovtun flew to London and met Mr Litvinenko who became ill hours after the meeting and died three weeks later of severe side effects of exposure to the substance.
Mr Kovtun is in a Moscow hospital and is believed to be suffering similar side effects.