Putin ‘probably approved’ Litvinenko murder: United Kingdom inquiry

A report into the radiation poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko concluded on Thursday it was a Russian secret service operation that was “probably approved” by President Vladimir Putin.

“The evidence establishes that Mr. Litvinenko ingested the fatal dose whilst drinking tea from a teapot contaminated with polonium-210 in the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel in the West End of London in the afternoon of 1 November in the company of Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitri Kovtun”.

But Litvinenko’s widow Marina, who spent years pushing for a public inquiry to be held, urged Britain to impose sanctions against Russian Federation and a travel ban on Putin.

British police identified former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy and another Russian, Dmitry Kovtun, as likely culprits, though both deny involvement.

Judge Owen says the operation was “probably approved” by Mr. Putin and Nikolai Patrushev, the FSB’s director at the time.

Litvinenko’s widow, Marina Litvinenko, welcomed the report, calling for the United Kingdom to impose sanctions on Russian Federation. He died three days later.

“For us it is absolutely unacceptable that the report concludes that the Russian state was in any way involved in the death of Mr. Litvinenko on British soil”, it said. Russian Federation has refused to extradite them.

One of Mr Litvinenko’s alleged killers sent a T-shirt bearing the words “nuclear death is knocking on your door” to be delivered at the London office of billionaire Boris Berezovsky, the inquiry heard.

The dissident made “repeated highly personal attacks” on the President after seeking asylum in the United Kingdom in 2000, including an allegation of paedophilia in July 2006.

In a House of Commons statement Thursday, May announced arrest warrants had been issued for the two main suspects and their assets frozen, as she criticized Russian Federation for failing to cooperate with the investigation into the murder. Owen said Litvinenko “was regarded as having betrayed the FSB” with his actions, and said “there were powerful motives for organizations and individuals within the Russian state” to kill him.

– He points out that there was “undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism” between Litvinenko and Putin – the two men had met in 1998, when Putin was the newly appointed head of the FSB and when Litvinenko hoped he might implement reforms.

He told Russia’s Interfax news agency: “The results of the inquiry published today confirm once more an anti-Russian position of London, narrow-mindedness and unwillingness of English people to find a real reason of Litvinenko’s death”. Lugovoi, now a member of Russian parliament, and Kovtun deny involvement in the crime.

British Judge Robert Owen says Litvinenko was given tea laced with polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. “It is unthinkable that the prime minister would do nothing in the face of the damning findings of Sir Robert Owen”.

The inquiry and its accusations against the Russian government are “clearly politically motivated”, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said.