Britain reacts to Putin’s ex-Russian spy murder link

President Vladimir Putin probably approved a Russian intelligence operation to murder ex-KBG agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British inquiry has found.

Beyond those limited expressions of protest, it is unclear how the British government will respond to the inquiry’s findings, especially as Western powers court Russian Federation for its help in resolving the civil war in Syria.

— The report notes that prior to the poisoning, Kovtun had told a witness that Litvinenko was to be poisoned rather than shot because “it is meant to set an example”.

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

It said his poisoners were former KGB bodyguard turned lawmaker Lugovoi and fellow Russian Dmitry Kovtun.

In response to the British report, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova refuted the allegations, saying that Britain’s handling of the case was “opaque” and “politicized”.

Nuclear agent Sir Robert said that Litvinenko, a former intelligence officer, was poisoned with a powerful nuclear agent called polonium-210, “probably” on the orders of the Russian president.

The judge said he was sure Lugovoy and Kovtun had placed the polonium 210 in the teapot at the Millennium Hotel’s Pine Bar on November 1, 2006. “For us it’s absolutely unacceptable that the report concludes that the Russian state was in any way involved in the death of Mr Litvinenko”. President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia’s FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge said Thursday.

Andrei Lugovoi, now a member of the Russian parliament, tells the Interfax news agency on Thursday “the results of the investigation that were announced today once again confirm London’s anti-Russian position and the blinkered view and unwillingness of the British to establish the true cause of Litvinenko’s death”.

Litvinenko was a former KGB officer who defected to London to expose corruption within Kremlin’s security services shortly before his death. “I have further concluded Mr Kovtun was also acting under FSB direction”, he said.

“This was a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of global law and civilized behavior”, May said. Moscow, for its parts, has refused to extradite them.

Mr Litvinenko’s widow Marina said she was “very pleased” with the report.

The Kremlin has always denied any involvement but the claim Putin directly ordered a killing of an opponent with a radioactive isotope in a major Western capital provoked immediate censure from Moscow.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the government would summon Russia’s ambassador to London to express its displeasure at Moscow’s failure to cooperate with the investigation into Mr Litvinenko’s death.

Litvinenko’s widow Marina read a statement outside the Royal Court of Justice following Owen’s inquiry. This is what makes it appear possible that Putin “probably” approved of killing the spy.