MOSCOW — Dmitry Kovtun, one of two Russian agents accused of poisoning a former spy and Kremlin critic, died in a Moscow hospital on Saturday. He was 57.
Kovtun died of a COVID-19-induced illness, The Guardian and The Associated Press reported. Russian lawmaker Andrei Lugovoi announced Kovtun’s death on his messaging app channel, according to the AP.
Kovtun was accused of assassinating Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 by poisoning him in London, The Guardian reported. Litvinenko, a former KGB officer who became a British citizen and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was poisoned with a radioactive substance, the BBC reported.
Litvinenko died on Nov. 23, 2006, weeks after drinking tea laced with isotope polonium-210 at a London hotel, where he met Kovtun and Lugovoi, The Guardian reported. After Litvinenko’s death, detectives found polonium in all the hotel rooms where Kovtun and Lugovoi had stayed in London, the news outlet reported. The poison was also found on Lugovoi’s plane seat from Moscow and in numerous other locations, the news outlet reported.
A British inquiry concluded that Kovtun and Lugovoi had killed Litvinenko and that Putin had “probably approved” the operation, according to The Associated Press. The European Court of Human Rights backed the British court’s conclusion.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement. Kovtun and Lugovoi also denied playing any role in Litvinenko’s death, according to the AP.