MOSCOW, December 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's top health official said Friday that passengers on Moscow-London and London-Moscow flights had no need to fear radiation exposure.
Traces of radiation have been found on two British Airways airliners, at a dozen sites in London and at the British Embassy in Moscow as part of a probe into the murder of Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died of a fatal dose of polonium-210 in the British capital November 23.
Gennady Onishchenko said that Russians who were on board the flights or who were related to the tragedy in some other way could have themselves tested for radiation at two special centers in Moscow to ease their concerns.
However, Onishchenko said "in our opinion, it is unnecessary."
Onishchenko said the airliners examined by his agency, the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, were not contaminated, adding that checks were continuing.
He said British and Russian airliners arriving in Russia which flew the route from late October to early December had been monitored for radiation over the last two weeks, with around 13 planes being checked each day.
Onishchenko said British authorities had invited Russian experts to visit London to discuss the possible radioactive contamination of aircraft, a proposal that is still being considered.
"We need information on [contaminated] locations in the UK and British airliners," the sanitary official said.
One of Litvinenko's contacts, businessman Dmitry Kovtun is in hospital in Russia being treated for radiation poisoning. Andrei Lugovoi, another Russian businessman and former security officer, who met, along with Kovtun, with Litvinenko in London before he fell ill, is undergoing medical tests.
