REUTERS
Police stand guard as a member of the federal office for radiation protection, wearing a protective suit, enters a apartment in Hamburg December 9, 2006. German police have found traces of radiation in two buildings linked to a Russian businessman who met the murdered ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko on the day he fell ill, a spokeswoman said on Saturday. Radiation traces were found overnight in an apartment in the northern German city of Hamburg belonging to the ex-wife of Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun, who met Litvinenko in a London bar and who is also now in hospital.

HAMBURG, (Reuters):

German police have found traces of radiation in two buildings linked to a Russian businessman who met the murdered ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko on the day he fell ill, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

Radiation detection experts were also checking the plane which businessman Dmitry Kovtun flew to London with on the day he met Litvinenko in a bar, said a spokesman for the plane's operator, budget airline Germanwings.

In a statement released after his death, Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing him. The Kremlin has denied involvement in a case that has spawned conspiracy theories, revived memories of Cold War spying and strained relations between Russia and Britain.

Kovtun in hospital

The investigation surrounding Litvinenko's death spread to Germany when radiation traces were found overnight in an apartment belonging to Kovtun's ex-wife in the northern city of Hamburg. Kovtun is now in hospital.

Further traces of radiation were found at a building in Pinneberg in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein yesterday which belongs to Kovtun's former mother-in-law.

Litvinenko was killed in London by a lethal dose of polonium 210, a radioactive substance. British and Russian authorities have opened murder investigations. He died on Nov. 23 and was buried in London on Thursday.

Kovtun travelled to London from Germany on Nov. 1 to meet the ex-spy, he told Web site stern.de in an interview conducted before he was taken to hospital. It is not clear where he was between Litvinenko being taken ill and his own admission to hospital.

Some reports say Kovtun, who is in hospital in Moscow, is in a critical condition, but a lawyer who was in touch with his representatives told Reuters those reports were wrong.

Hamburg police said neither Kovtun nor his ex-wife nor her mother were suspects in the investigation, but said the ex-wife had been questioned. Anyone who came into contact with her or the Hamburg apartment in recent weeks would be checked.