Andrei Lugovoi a former Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) operative and millionaire who met with Alexander Litvinenko on the day he fell ill (1 November). He had visited London at least three times in the month before Litvinenko's death and met with the victim four times. In 1987 Lugovoi joined the KGB's 9th directorate which provided security for top state officials. He was a platoon commander for five years and then served as a commander in the Kremlin regiment's training company. In 1991 he was transferred to the personal security unit until his resignation at the end of 1996. During his time in the KGB he provided security for Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, the head of the presidential administration Sergey Filatov and Foreign Minister Andrey Kozyrev. Lugovoi went on to work in the private security business. For several years he was head of security at the private television company ORT, then owned by Boris Berezovsky and Badri Patarkatsishvili. In 2001 Lugovoi was arrested and charged with organizing the escape of Nikolai Glushkov, a former deputy director-general of Aeroflot arrested in 2000 on fraud charges. Lugovoi's company Pershin is involved in private security, soft drinks and wine, and is said to be worth £100 million.
Dmitri Kovtun a Russian businessman, business partner with Andrei Lugovoy, and ex-KGB agent, met Alexander Litvinenko several times in London, the last time hours before Litvinenko fell ill. Kovtun graduated from military school in 1985, before graduating in 1986 with Andrei Lugovoy, from the prestigious army college, the Moscow Command School. Lugovoy recalled that the two of them had grown up in the same apartment block from the age of 12, while their fathers served in the Soviet Ministry of Defence. Kovtun spent the rest of the 1980s serving in Czechoslovakia and then Germany. Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, he remained in Germany, living there for a total of 12 years. He married a German national, although they are now separated. He retains a German residence permit, although he no longer conducts any business in Germany. He now works in consulting, helping Western companies to access Russian markets. It was for this reason, he explained, that he was interested in meeting Litvinenko, who had “serious contacts with serious English companies” interested in operating in Russia. Kovtun confirmed that he had first been introduced to Litvinenko by Lugovoy on 16 October.
Vyacheslav Sokolenko, another business partner of Andrei Lugovoy and Dimitri Kovtun. Sokolenko works for Devyatyy Val (Ninth Wave), a group of private security firms based in Moscow. Dmitri Kovtun also works for Devyatyy Val, and with Sokolenko, run the company.A Russian-language website bearing the name of Devyatyy Val reveals the group’s slogan as “Spirit of Perfection”. The group comprises three security firms: Stolitsa-Shchit (Capital Shield), Garde-Iks and Orion, as well as the Lentus consultancy and a training facility. The website says the company was founded in 1993. Devyatyy Val is also a member of a Moscow-based association of private security firms, Devyatichi (Men of the Ninth). The association takes its name from the KGB’s ninth department, which protected top Communist Party officials during the Soviet era. Lugovoy served in this unit from 1987 until the fall of the Soviet Union.
Is Vyacheslav Sokolenko the answer to the question, "Who is Vladimir?" Is Vladimir actually Vyacheslav(aka Volodya )? (1) Vladimir was described as a “tall, taciturn sharp-featured Russian in his early forties”. (2) Vladimir accompanied Andrei Lugovoy to the hotel. (3) Litvinenko told officers that he was suspicious of “Vladimir”. (4) Vladimir was careful to disclose nothing about his identity or why he had turned up at a private get-together. (5) Vladimir apparently pressed Litvinenko to join him in a cup of tea. (6) Vladimir said little during the brief meeting.
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