Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy who died after exposure to polonium 210, probably wasn't poisoned with the radioactive isotope at a London sushi restaurant, said Mario Scaramella, the friend who met him there.

``I don't believe it happened there, simply because there were no other people, not any strange situation,'' Scaramella said in an interview with Cable News Network. ``Alexander was always on alert, so nothing strange happened.''

The restaurant on London's Piccadilly, Itsu, is one of about a dozen places where investigators have detected polonium 210. Litvinenko, who had become a British citizen, died Nov. 23 with an amount of the material in his body that doctors said was ``significant.'' U.K. detectives involved in the case are in Moscow, where today they were to interview Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoi, Itar-Tass reported.

Lugovoi said in newspaper and televised interviews that he met Litvinenko in London on Nov. 1, the day the ex-spy first reported feeling ill, though he denied poisoning him, as does Scaramella. Lugovoi and Scaramella both were hospitalized for treatment of polonium exposure.

The Italian told CNN from his London hospital bed that he attributes the poisoning to ``people linked with some clandestine organizations not directly under the control of Russian establishment, but from Russia. Generally, retired people from the security services, these kind of people.''

Putin Blamed

Two days before he died, Litvinenko, a critic of the Kremlin, dictated a statement in which he blamed his illness on the government of President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader has denied the allegation.

Scaramella said that at Itsu, he showed Litvinenko e-mails indicating they both ``were under the special attention of some hostile people, and so to take care.'' The Italian drank only water at the restaurant, he told CNN. U.K. media have reported that Litvinenko ate a meal there.

Scaramella was hospitalized on Dec. 1 after the U.K. Health Protection Agency said he had a ``significant quantity'' of polonium 210 in his body, the same terminology it used to describe Litvinenko's intake of the substance.

Tests carried out last week indicated Scaramella had about a 20th of the dose of polonium 210 that was found in Litvinenko's body, the Italian said. The amount in Litvinenko was about 100 times the lethal dose.

``Considering my perfect condition, I don't believe I have this kind of contamination,'' Scaramella said. ``I feel so good that I think I have no contamination at all.''

Polonium 210 is found in the environment and in people at low concentrations and poses a risk only if it is inhaled, swallowed or enters an open wound. The radiation it emits travels a few centimeters and can be stopped by a sheet of paper.

Inquest

The cause of Litvinenko's death was leukemia, north London coroner Andrew Reid said on Nov. 30, as he opened an inquest in the case. Leukemia, a cancer of the blood or bone marrow, can be brought on by radiation.

Other than Scaramella, authorities investigating Litvinenko's death have only found the substance in one other person, an adult member of the dead spy's family who wasn't further identified by the HPA. U.K. newspapers said the person is his widow.

The relative's polonium exposure won't ``result in any illness in the short term and the results are reassuring in that any increased risk in the long term is likely to be very small,'' the agency said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

The HPA so far has assessed 244 members of the public and 71 health care workers. Twenty-eight people have been referred to a specialist clinic after showing symptoms that may result from radiation poisoning.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 6, 2006 08:04 EST