A former Russian spy who died in London was poisoned with a radioactive substance, the British government said Friday, AP reported. The former KGB agent and vociferous Kremlin opponent died late Thursday after spending days in intensive care in a London hospital. Britain's Health Protection Agency said the rare radioactive element polonium-210 had been found in his urine. The agency described the poisoning as «an unprecedented event.» «I've been in radiation sciences for 30-odd years and I'm not aware of any such incident,» said Roger Cox, director of the agency's center for radiation, chemicals and environmental hazards. The agency's chief executive, Pat Troop, said that the high level indicated «he would either have to have eaten it, inhaled it or taken it in through a wound.» «We know he had a major dose,» she said. Troop said the agency was evaluating whether it was safe to perform an autopsy. Home Secretary John Reid chaired a meeting of COBRA, the government's emergency committee, to discuss Litvinenko's death, a Cabinet Office spokeswoman said. Prime Minister Tony Blair's Downing Street office said he was in Scotland and had not attended.
