that s because they found polonium on the table in a conference room where he and litvinenko had met two weeks before the pine bar encounter. was anything spilled on the table? translator: richard, you are asking questions. i remember some things. i don t remember other things. i cannot answer these questions because these can be used against me in the court, which is done frequently. reporter: as for his last meeting with litvinenko at the pine bar, lugovoi says there s no way he brought polonium on that trip because his wife and children were with him. translator: a person s weakest spot is his family. and i m a rational man. even if i had taken part in an operation, even if i had known what was in the container, would i take my family along? i m a rational man. i couldn t do it. reporter: not only did he continue to maintain his innocence, he offered his own theory about who poisoned the tea. could someone had put something
kind of substances for killing people that you never will be able to recognize. why do we have to go into some kind of a bar and put it in someone s tea cup and everyone s laughing at it? i mean, the state cannot be involved in that. reporter: litvinenko s friend paul joyal, who believes he was the target of a botched assassination, agrees that in some ways litvinenko s killers were indeed clumsy and careless. but he says that s because they were probably just pawns in a much bigger game. do you think that any of them knew what that substance was? do you think that they knew they were handling polonium? reporter: why wouldn t they have known what they were handling? because you don t want them to know.
business after that and opened a security consulting firm. he says he and litvinenko met several times in london to discuss doing business there together including that now infamous meeting in the pine bar where scotland yard says litvinenko was poisoned. lugovoi says the meeting was no big deal. so what do you remember about sitting there at the table? translator: i remember that we talked with litvinenko about nothing in particular. and now for eight years, i am under suspicion. reporter: you re under suspicion because the investigation says there was polonium in that teapot. did you put any polonium in the tea? translator: of course not. i was tested for polonium, and i tested positive. did i put polonium into myself? am i an idiot? am i crazy? reporter: but scotland yard detectives don t believe lugovoi s denials. in fact, they think he tried to kill litvinenko more than once.
close to the source of putin s personal wealth would have been by far the most dangerous things that he could do. reporter: in addition to a possible motive there was also the means. paul joyal says the fact that polonium was used to kill litvinenko leaves little doubt as to who authorized the murder. so does that mean it had to be putin? it could have been someone else with access to come on, come on, you re not going to engage in an act of nuclear terrorism in downtown london without the knowledge of the office of the president. today we begin the open hearings in the inquiry into the death of alexander litvinenko. reporter: in january 2015, a public inquiry opened in london. it s a victory for marina, who, along with her attorneys, fought not eight-year legal battle to make it happen. on the opening day, her attorney argued the evidence leads to one disturbing conclusion, which litvinenko himself reached before he died. mr. litvinenko came to the
he says he and litvinenko met several times in london to discuss doing business there together including that now infamous meeting in the pine bar where scotland yard says litvinenko was poisoned. lugovoi says the meeting was no big deal. so what do you remember about sitting there at the table? translator: i remember that we talked with litvinenko about nothing in particular. and now for eight years, i am under suspicion. reporter: you re under suspicion because the investigation says there was polonium in that teapot. did you put any polonium in the tea? translator: of course not. i was tested for polonium, and i tested positive. did i put polonium into myself? am i an idiot? am i crazy? reporter: but scotland yard detectives don t believe lugovoi s denials. in fact, they think he tried to kill litvinenko more than once.