State Duma deputy Andrey Lugovoy, who the UK considers the main suspect in the killing of former FSB officer Aleksandr Litvinenko, did not commit the murder, a British lie detector test shows.
Lugovoy was asked several questions in connection with the 2006 death of Litvinenko by the British Polygraph Association in Moscow, Interfax reports. Asked if he had directly or indirectly contributed to the death, and whether he had dealt with polonium, he replied "no" to all questions. "After careful analysis of all the diagrams obtained from the [polygraph] test, we have determined that the answers to these questions were not false. Thus, in our professional opinion, Andrey Lugovoy was telling the truth when answering the above questions,” members of the British Polygraph Association Bruce and Tristam Burgess said.Lugovoy himself confirmed to Interfax that the test took place.“I passed the lie detector test in Moscow on April 24.The entire process lasted around three hours", Lugovoy said.
Aleksander Litvinenko died from poisoning by the radioactive substance polonium 210 in November 2006 in a London hospital. British authorities accused Lugovoy of being involved in the murder, while he maintains his innocence. The incident seriously damaged relations between Russia and the UK.While Scotland Yard has sought Lugovoy’s extradition, Russia says the country's Constitution prohibits handing over its citizens.Lugovoy told RT in an exclusive interview there were several potential suspects, including exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky and members of British intelligence.
Litvinenko’s father to reveal secrets surrounding son’s murder?
Aleksandr Litvinenko's father Walter is scheduled to give an exclusive interview with RT this Friday, saying he will divulge new information surrounding the circumstances of his son’s death.After maintaining for years that Russia was behind the murder, and pursuing a smear campaign against the Russian government, Walter told RT this past February he had changed his mind. It came after the revelation that his son may have been on the payroll of British intelligence.Saying the Russian security services would have had a right to kill his son if he had indeed been a traitor, he doubted Andrey Lugovoy killed his son.“The FSB wouldn’t send some dumbhead to spill polonium on himself, to leave traces all over my son. It appears that someone left traces of polonium on Lugovoy intentionally. Polonium traces were found at the stadium, on the road and even on a plane. It’s strange to think that Lugovoy would be such an idiot.”Lugovoy reacted to Walter’s comments by telling RT that the British intelligence community had “embarrassed themselves” in their campaign to discredit Russia. “Litvinenko’s father's comments reflect what I’ve been saying for more than five years – that Britain's accusations won’t stand up in court.”Lugovoy told RT the idea for him to take a polygraph test had long been floated around in the British press. Upon agreeing to take the examination, Lugovoy said his only condition was that those coming to test him would not immediately be made aware of their subject's identity for fear of bias. Lugovoy further said he had waited so long to take the test because a lack of trust on the British side would have made a similar test carried out by Russian experts suspect. Therefore, he decided that only British experts could carry out the test in a manner that would be satisfactory to his detractors, although he “is prepared to go and take the test in any other country.”
‘We did test as Lugovoy was so passionate about his innocence’
Aleksandr Korobko from 'Russian Hour’ told RT the idea to arrange the lie detector test first came about when his UK-based production company began filming a documentary about Lugovoy.“I initially didn’t plan on the test, we just realized that when I met Andrey, he was so passionate about his innocence, that I thought it goes way beyond entertainment. We really have to test if the man is innocent.”Korobko further denied accusations that a trained Russian security officer would be able to manipulate the test, saying it only happens like that “in the movies.”“To my knowledge, at least according to my very extensive discussions with Bruce and Tristam, even the FBI and every American police station has a polygraph test," he said. "If it was so easy to fool, why would the security services use it?”Korobko concluded that in the eyes of the examiners, “this is the ultimate way to determine if one is lying or telling the truth.”