Downing Street Says » Litvinenko

Asked what the Prime Minister’s concerns were for public safety following the death of Alexander Litvinenko and following what the Home Secretary had said about a possible new threat of radiation terrorism, the PMOS said that first and foremost that the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and others have been absolutely right to act in a precautionary way but also to say that the risk to the public is low. Secondly we have to proceed on a factual basis and that is why we have to be careful about not jumping to conclusions, we will tell the public what we think the public needs to know, but meanwhile there is also on the other side a police investigation going on and that has to proceed in the right way. It is a balance between on the one hand being transparent with the public as we have been, and secondly recognising that there is also a police investigation going on.

Asked why COBRA seemed to be having so many meetings, the PMOS said he knew that COBRA caused a certain amount of frisson within the lobby but COBRA fulfils a bureaucratic purpose in something such as this which effects a number of agencies and departments within Government. COBRA is a co-ordinating mechanism and it meets as often, or as little, as it needs to. When it deals with something such as this, which is out of the ordinary, then it fulfils a very useful function.

Asked if the Prime Minister had raised the issue or would be raising the issue with President Putin, the PMOS said, as he had said this morning, that we must proceed on a factual basis, not a speculative basis, and therefore at the moment that means waiting to see where the police investigation leads to. We cannot jump to conclusions and we must proceed on a factual basis. The PMOS added that we had asked the Russian Ambassador to ensure that Russia co-operate fully with the investigation, but that is as far as we can go at this stage.

Asked if what the PMOS had said meant that it would be unlikely to be an issued raised at the NATO Conference in Riga, the PMOS said it would be better to see where we are in Riga as it was an issue that had to be approached on a daily basis.

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» Monday, November 27, 2006

Litvinenko

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