The Italian academic Mario Scaramella who met Alexander Litvinenko after he'd been poisoned, said both men had been threatened by e-mails several days before. Mr Scaramella had met the former KGB officer to tell him his life might be in danger. This report from Christian Fraser:

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They met in a Sushi bar for thirty-five minutes. Mr Litvinenko guaranteed he'd look into the source but by ten pm, when Mr Scaramella called him, Mr Litvinenko was already falling ill. Mr Scaramella says he was not told who Mr Litvinenko had been with prior to their meeting but he said recognised the symptoms of the poisoning. It was radioactive Thallium, he said.

Radioactive material was often used by the FSB to trace Mafia money in Russia. There are plenty of people who want to kill Mr Scaramella and Mr Litvinenko. The two had worked closely with an Italian parliamentary inquiry lifting the lid on former KGB spies and their activities. Mr Litvinenko was a friend of the Chechens, said Mr Scaramella, public enemy number one. And the two had been threatened before.

When questioned Mr Scaramella also revealed that the Italian senator Paolo Guzzanti, who sat on the parliamentary inquiry into the KGB, was also on this hit list. It seemed to come as some surprise to the senator, who was at the same press conference. He'd clearly not been told before.

Christian Fraser, BBC News, Rome

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the Cold War
the state of political tension and military competition that developed between the West and the Soviet Union following World War II. It did not develop into full-scale war

sufficiently
enough, as much as is needed

astonishing
very surprising, amazing

look into
investigate; try to find out more about something, especially the reason for or cause of something

symptoms
physical changes in the body that show that someone has an illness or disease

to trace
to track or follow the development of something, by working backwards from the latest evidence

lifting the lid
exposing or showing the truth about something

public enemy number one
a major threat or danger to public health and safety; also the criminal at the top of the police's list of criminals they want to catch

hit list
a list of people who are going to be murdered or acted against

press conference
an interview held for a group of news reporters by a political figure or famous person

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