The long-running inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of a former KGB officer, Alexander Litvinenko, hit fresh delays Monday over the failure of a key Russian suspect to testify by video link from Moscow.
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Before his death, Litvinenko accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of ordering his killing and Robert Owen, the chairman overseeing the British inquiry, has said there was a “prima facie case” indicating Russian involvement.
But the BBC’s Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford said that seemed unlikely as the inquiry had already been delayed from the spring – specifically to allow Mr Kovtun to take part.
But he said: “It gives rise in my mind to the gravest suspicion that an attempt is being made to manipulate the situation to give him, thereafter, the ability to say he was willing to give evidence to this inquiry but has been unable to do so for reasons beyond his control”.
However, last week he contacted the inquiry to say he had received legal advice that he was bound by an obligation of confidentiality to an ongoing Russian investigation into the death, and that if he appeared without the permission of the Russian authorities he would be committing an offence.
Today it was finally confirmed that Mr Kovtun would not give evidence after he withdrew at the 11th hour.
“That said, we endorse your view that there should be no place left for Mr Kovtun or his masters in the Kremlin to hide behind procedural limitations as an excuse”.
And Richard Horwell QC, for the Metropolitan Police, said Mr Kovtun’s actions did not come as “any surprise”.
Mr Kovtun and former KGB bodyguard Andrey Lugovoy, who were both at the meeting, are the main suspects but have denied any involvement in his death. British authorities later decided Lugovoi and Kovtun should be prosecuted for murder.
He died after drinking tea from a pot laced with a rare radioactive isotope, polonium 210, at an encounter with Russians that included Kovtun and Lugovoi at an upscale hotel in central London.
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“It appears Kovtun’s request to give evidence was nothing more than an attempt to become a core participant and obtain as much information about these proceedings as he could”, he said. Kovtun initially also declined, but signaled that he would cooperate in March.
