HARDtalk guest Andrei Lugovoi (XviD)

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Tuesday, 22nd February 2008

BBC HARDtalk



Sackur's world



Russia is Γ?? to use a phrase Putin might appreciate Γ?? minded to stick

two fingers up to the West. And nothing illustrates the point better

than the case of one of my guests on Hardtalk in Moscow: Andrei Lugovoi.



Mr Lugovoi, you may remember, stands accused by British prosecutors of

murdering the former KGB agent turned fierce Putin critic Alexander

Litvinenko in London.



The Russian government has swatted away British demands for Lugovoi's

extradition. Indeed the suspected polonium poisoner was elected to the

Russian parliament just two months ago, thanks to the political

patronage of Russia's clown prince of xenophobic nationalism Vladimir

Zhirinovsky.





Stephen on set with Andrei Lugovoi



The depth of Mr Lugovoi's commitment to his new political career

remains uncertain. He chose to meet me not in the Russian Duma, but in

the offices of his "security" company which occupy a suite of rooms in

one of Moscow's luxury hotels.



Given the British suspicion that Mr Lugovoi was a prime mover in the

plot which saw Mr Litvinenko's cup of tea spiked with polonium-210 in

a London hotel bar I was wondering whether I would be offered a

pre-interview cuppa.



"English breakfast, herbal or radioactive?" was a question that would

have broken the ice rather well. Alas, it never came.



Instead Mr Lugovoi was an odd mix of boyish smiles and scarcely

concealed rage. As I asked him to explain the suspicious trail of

polonium traces that matched his movements to and from London in

October 2006 he was at first dismissive, and then eager to point to

traces found in places he had not visited.



As I probed his relationship with Litvinenko I was left confused.





"English breakfast, herbal or radioactive?" was a question that would

have broken the ice rather well

Litvinenko was a "traitor", he had tried to recruit the patriotic

Lugovoi to spy for the British. He was trouble. And yet Lugovoi

cultivated an intense relationship with this renegade which saw them

meet half a dozen times in less than three weeks in the run up to

Litvinenko's agonising death. Why?



It's never been a career ambition of mine to become Detective

Inspector Sackur of Scotland Yard, but I suspect my interview is as

close as Lugovoi is ever going to come to a grilling by British

investigators.



Mr Lugovoi concluded by telling me his unjust persecution by the

British was part of a "war" the west has declared on Moscow. This was

a line straight from the Putin playbook - Cold War rhetoric revived

for a new generation of resentful Russians. And just for a moment I

felt myself transported back to the 1970s; just as surely as if I'd

recovered one of my dusty Deep Purple LPs from the attic and cranked

up the volume on my ageing record player.





Stephen's interview with Andrei Lugovoi will be available for viewing

on Thursday 21st - please check back then.



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