Mario Scaramella. Photo: REUTERS

Professor Mario Scaramella, 38, who describes himself as a defence consultant, was surrounded by four bodyguards as he arrived for the Rome conference, SkyNews reports. Journalists had been summoned by SMS texts.

Professor Scaramella revealed how he had not eaten at the sushi bar and how Mr Litvinenko helped himself to fish from a buffet and was brought soup by a waiter — while he had only water to drink. He stressed he had nothing to do with the poisoning and blamed at the Russian secret services.

Professor Scaramella said the original arrangements for the meeting had been by email and it was arranged that they would meet on November 1 in central London. “I was in London to meet Mr Litvinenko because I wanted to discuss with him some alarming news. The information I had received was very disturbing and contained details of plots against Russians both in Italy and Great Britain.

”I called him and we arranged to meet as we always do in Piccadilly Circus. I have met him several times. He is a very good source of mine and has contacts in Russia. I was with him for maybe 30-45 minutes. We were downstairs and there were no other people there. I had already had lunch so I had nothing to eat — and had a glass of water.

“Mr Litvinenko had some fish from a buffet and some soup was brought to us. He personally took his food from the buffet. I paid for the bill, as I recall it was about 17 pounds.” Professor Scaramella added: “I told him that I had received some very worrying and disturbing information. I had been given a list of names and lots of facts from a contact.

”The information was a list of people — it was a hit list and on that list was his name, my name and Paolo Guzzanti (head of the Italian commission investigating KGB activities in Italy). It was unbelievable and there were also names of people in Britain on it. I asked him to make a call to his people in Russia to evaluate it.

“Mr Litvinenko told me not to worry about it. The arrangement was that I would call him later that night or the following morning. When I called him back the next morning his wife said that he was very sick but she laughed it off saying half of London was ill.”

Professor Scaramella also described how Litvinkeno had mentioned he had been at a meeting beforehand. The Italian explained: “He said to me that he was in London to see some people in the morning and that he would be free to see me in the afternoon. When he arrived he did not mention who he met but I understand the authorities are investigating the possibility he was poisoned at this meeting.

”The information I received was in two emails and I passed that information the British authorities to the intelligence services and the police through diplomatic channels. The information was disturbingly serious and these people are very dangerous. I was warned to be very careful as these people are well organized. The information regarded plots to do something both in Italy and Great Britain. There were several Russian people in Britain on that list as well as Litvinenko, Mr Guzzanti and myself.“

He refused to elaborate on where the list had come from other than to say it came ”from someone who lives out of Russia.“

When asked if he was scared and what steps he had taken to increase his own personal security Professor Scaramella said: ”I don’t want to answer that question. These people are very dangerous. We are talking about people involved in the murder of (Russian journalist) Anna Politkovskaya.“

He also described how there was a strong connection between the Russian Mafia and the former KGB as well as their replacement intelligence service the FSB and SVR.

Professor Scaramella also revealed how Mr Litvinenko had provided information which led to the arrest of six Ukranians who were smuggling arms between Russia and Italy for an attempted hit.

He added: ”About a year ago Litvinenko contacted me to say he had details about arms being smuggled to Italy. With that information I contacted the Italian intelligence services and he also spoke to them. It led to the arrest of six Ukranians near Teramo who were found with arms. They had hidden powerful grenades — strong enough to take out a tank or an armoured car — inside two hollowed out Bibles. The information was that these grenades were intended for a hitman from the former Eastern bloc who was living in the Naples area.“

When asked directly what he thought of the attempt on Litvinenko’s life Professor Scaramella said: ”It was a political assassination.“

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