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Ex-Russian spy is worse, says friend

By Associated press
Published November 23, 2006

LONDON - A friend who visited poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in the intensive care ward of a London hospital Wednesday said he looked much worse and was barely able to speak.

But the hospital said Litvinenko's condition had not deteriorated and the fierce Kremlin critic was in stable condition.

"He's much worse today," Alex Goldfarb told the Associated Press in a telephone interview from the University College Hospital. "He's much thinner, looks more exhausted and he's finding it much more difficult to speak. He's there but he's not there."

Goldfarb said later that doctors are particularly concerned about damage to Litvinenko's liver and bone marrow and have banned everyone but his wife and father from entering his hospital room to reduce the risk of infection.

Litvinenko, 43, is suffering from the effects of an unknown poison he believes was given to him Nov. 1. The poison has caused his hair to fall out and damaged his immune and nervous systems.

Doctors originally blamed the toxic metal thallium, but have now said it is more likely it was something else, possibly a radioactive substance.

"He has been poisoned, so we are looking for other causes of poisoning," Dr. Amit Nathwani, who is treating Litvinenko, told reporters outside the hospital Tuesday. "But it is also quite possible that we may never find the ultimate cause."

Litvinenko has publicly accused Moscow of involvement in the October death of another Kremlin critic - investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Intelligence service again strongly denied involvement in Litvinenko's poisoning.

[Last modified November 23, 2006, 00:07:36]