Litvinenko murder suspect to testify at inquiry into poisoning death of Russian ex-spy

A suspect in the radiation poisoning death in London of Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko is expected to testify at an inquiry into the killing next month, British justice officials said.

Businessman Dmitry Kovtun has been granted "core participant status" in the inquiry into the 2006 murder and has said he is "willing to attend a video-link session in Moscow", the officials' statement said.

It added that Kovtun "does intend to assert the privilege against self-incrimination", which means he can refuse to answer questions if he believes that he would incriminate himself.

The video-link is expected to take place at the end of July, although no date has yet been set.

Kovtun and a second Russian, former Kremlin bodyguard Andrei Lugovoi, are wanted by British police for allegedly poisoning Litvinenko in a London hotel using tea laced with polonium-210, a radioactive isotope.

Kovtun told journalists in Moscow earlier this year that he believed Litvinenko was already ill before he met the duo in October 2006 and had most likely unwittingly caused his own death.