Two years after Alexander Litvinenko died in agony at a London hospital, the man accused of murdering him with radioactive poison is prepared to come to Britain to be questioned by Scotland Yard.

Andrei Lugovoy, looking fit and relaxed, made the extraordinary offer to The Times in Moscow with his childhood friend Dmitri Kovtun, the main witness in the case.

Mr Lugovoy wore a jacket he had bought in London on his last visit, the trip that brought him global infamy as the alleged assassin of the dissident Russian agent, who died a slow death in University College Hospital.

Ahead of the second anniversary tomorrow of Mr Litvinenko’s death, Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun decided to meet The Times at Aristocrat, a restaurant they own in an 18th-century Moscow mansion. Mr Lugovoy, a former KGB officer who now sits in Russia’s parliament, ordered coffee and offered something to drink. I asked for tea, as did Mr Kovtun, who added, smiling: “Plain and simple tea.” Mr Litvinenko, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, drank tea when he met the two men at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair on November 1, 2006.

The former Federal Security Service agent fell ill soon afterwards and died on November 23. His dramatic deathbed statement accused Mr Putin, then the Russian President, of ordering his assassination.

Mr Lugovoy, 42, may be in good shape but Mr Kovtun has aged considerably, his cropped hair now grey, his face lined and drawn. He was treated in a Moscow clinic for polonium exposure after Mr Litvinenko’s death.

They summoned The Times to make an offer for Mr Kovtun to travel to Britain to try to clear their names. He was not made a suspect when the Crown Prosecution Service charged Mr Lugovoy with murder last year, but remains under investigation by German police.

Mr Kovtun left polonium traces at the home of his former wife in Hamburg, which he visited before flying to London for the November 1 meeting.

He claims that this must mean that Mr Litvinenko was already contaminated when they met in London during an earlier visit on October 16 and 17.

“We have an idea for Dmitri to travel to London to talk to representatives of the prosecutors. We are looking for a way to achieve this if we could get guarantees from the Government of Great Britain,” Mr Lugovoy said.

Mr Kovtun needs an assurance that if he travelled to London he would be safe from extradition to Germany, in case authorities there sought him.

“If we decide to send him to London, it would be the most helpful thing for Scotland Yard to continue the investigation,” Mr Lugovoy said.

Mr Lugovoy did not rule out that he would travel to London later if Mr Kovtun were not handed over to Germany and if he received guarantees against his own arrest.

Both men deny involvement in Mr Litvinenko’s death, although Scotland Yard found a trail of polonium wherever they went in London. Mr Lugovoy has asserted that he was framed by MI6.

“What was beneficial for Russia out of this situation? Russia didn’t gain anything from it,” he insisted.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has ruled that Scotland Yard had sufficient evidence to charge Mr Lugovoy with murder. The pair are clearly frustrated at their position. Mr Lugovoy cannot travel outside Russia for fear of arrest; Mr Kovtun’s status remains uncertain because of the German inquiry.

On the trail

November 1, 2006
Alexander Litvinenko meets former KGB contacts Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitri Kovtun at Millennium Hotel, London
November 23
Litvinenko dies of radiation poisoning
November 24
In a statement read by his friends, Litvinenko accuses President Putin of his murder
December 6
British police question Mr Kovtun in Moscow
December 7
Russian prosecutors begin separate investigation
May 22, 2007
British prosecutors name Mr Lugovoy as Mr Litvinenko’s murderer
July 5
Russia rejects Britain’s request to extradite Mr Lugovoy
July 19
Four British diplomats are expelled from Moscow in retaliation for Britain’s expulsion of Russian diplomats

Source: Times database

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