Litvinenko report: Putin ‘probably APPROVED’ killing of Russian spy in London

Litvinenko was “deliberately poisoned” and his murder was “probably approved” by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the report of a British public inquiry released Thursday.

Litvinenko died after drinking green tea laced with radioactive polonium at the Millennium Hotel in London.

She called for the British government to take steps against Russian agents operating inside Britain in light of the report.In his 326-page report, Mr. Owen said that based on the evidence he had seen, the operation to kill Litvinenko was “probably” approved by then-FSB head Nikolai Patrushev and Mr. Putin.

The report also claims that Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, both ex-KGB agents themselves, administered the fatal polonium-210 isotope at a London hotel, under the pretense of meeting up with old colleagues.

As for the alleged perpetrators, the report states, “Warrants were in due course issued for their arrest, and the Crown Prosecution Service sought unsuccessfully to extradite them from the Russian Federation to stand trial for murder”.

Responding to the report, Mr Lugovoi, who is now a politician in Russia, said the accusations against him were “absurd”, the Russian news agency Interfax was quoted as saying.

Marina Litvinenko, the widow of Mr Litvinenko, called for sanctions against Russian Federation and a travel ban on Mr Putin. Litvinenko, who was reported to be on the payroll for MI6, blamed Putin for the assassination on his deathbed, shortly before succumbing to the effects of radiation poisoning.

“This was a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of global law and civilised behaviour”.

“He recognizes the importance of engaging and co-operating with Russia where this is in the national interest and limiting our engagement with Russians… where that is in our interest”.

The image of Litvinenko lying on his bed at London’s University College Hospital, gaunt and having lost his hair, was emblazoned across British and other Western newspapers and later shown to the inquiry.

She told AFP after the hearing: “I can’t say it is what I hoped for but I really appreciate it”.

After much investigation, a public inquiry began on January 27, 2015, and concluded today that Litvinenko’s assassination was an operation “probably” approved personally by Putin.

Sir Robert Owen, the public inquiry chairman, said Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun were probably acting under the direction of Moscow’s FSB intelligence service.

The report looked at Litvinenko’s “highly personal attacks” against the Russian president that reached a “climax” with a July 2006 article on the Chechenpress website, four months before he was poisoned.

British police have accused Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi of carrying out the killing, sponsored by elements in the Kremlin.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, accused Britain of politicising the matter.

Litvinenko fled from Russian Federation to the United Kingdom in 2000.