Vladimir Putin ‘probably approved’ the murder of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko

Owen had access to a “considerable quantity” of classified intelligence that was never presented in court, which indicates that Putin and Nikolai Patrushev, Kremlin’s then-head of security, approved the execution allegedly carried out by Russia’s federal security service FSB. She added that Prime Minister David Cameron would also raise the issue to Putin at “the next available opportunity”, according to the BBC.

“I’m very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Putin of his murder have been proved true in an English court”, she told reporters.

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

The report said the two were acting on behalf of others, under the direction of the FSB, the Russian security service. Putin’s motives were not just of political nature, but it was also revealed that there was strong “personal antagonism” between the president and Litvinenko.

Both Lugovoy and Kovtun have previously denied involvement and Russian Federation has refused to extradite them.

The Kremlin has always denied any involvement but the claim that the Russian president directly ordered a killing of an opponent in a major Western capital provoked immediate censure from Moscow.

Litvinenko wrote two books about what he saw as corruption within Russia’s intelligence agency, and accused Russia of carrying out the bombings of apartments in several Russian cities in 1999, which killed more than 300 people. Owen said that Litvinenko was targeted because he threatened to expose examples of Putin’s corruption, including ties to organized crime.

– Judge Robert Owen cited abundant evidence that Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun placed radioactive polonium-210 in Litvinenko’s tea at a London hotel on November 1, 2006.

“Such terminology is not allowed in our judicial practice nor is it allowed in the judicial practice of other countries and certainly can not be deemed by us as a verdict in any of its parts”, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the Russian foreign ministry has dismissed this inquiry as “politically motivated”.

He said the findings of the inquiry published on Thursday continued Britain’s “anti-Russian hysteria” which he said began after “the events in Ukraine in 2014”.

“We regret that a purely criminal case has been politicized and has darkened the general atmosphere of bilateral relations”, Zhakarova said in a statement.

May called the actions “a blatant an unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of global law and civilised behaviour”.

Mr Litvinenko had fled Russian Federation in 2000 and was granted asylum in Britain, later becoming a British citizen and converting to Islam.

Sir Robert Owen, a former British High Court judge, led the inquiry, which lasted almost three years.

A British judge is set to release the findings of a lengthy public inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.