Image copyright Litvinenko Family held in London a public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko concluded that his murder was “probably sanctioned” Vladimir Putin. Litvinenko died in a London hospital nearly 10 years ago. Who was he, and why the circumstances of his death still causes so much interest?
Alexander Litvinenko died at University College Hospital in London on 23 November 2006 at the age of 43 years. His death led to a cooling of relations between Moscow and London.
Litvinenko worked for almost 10 years in the Soviet KGB, and later the Russian FSB, which rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. However, he became a critic of the Russian government, and in 2000 fled to Britain, fearing for their safety. Shortly before his death he received British citizenship.
He was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210, taking the dose with a tea bar in London hotel “Millennium” November 1, 2006. As the head of a public inquiry, Sir Robert Owen, “he did not do it by accident, and not to commit suicide. He was deliberately poisoned”.
After the poisoning emerged that Litvinenko collaborated with the British intelligence service MI6 and get a royalties.
meeting over tea
During the hearing in the High Court in London said that Alexander Litvinenko was investigating Russian mafia ties with Spain and was going to fly back with another former FSB officer and his longtime friend, Andrei Lugovoi. Later Lugovoi became the prime suspect in the murder of Litvinenko.
They met in the center of London at the “Millennium” November 1, 2006 for a cup of tea. The meeting was attended by another man, businessman Dmitry Kovtun.
Shortly thereafter, Litvinenko fell ill, vomited all night. Three days later he was taken to hospital Barnetskuyu in north London with symptoms of food poisoning. There, his condition began to deteriorate rapidly and cause increasing concern.
November 11 in an interview with BBC Russian Service Litvinenko said he is in “grave condition after a heavy administration”.
In the course of this interview, Litvinenko said he was investigating the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead a month earlier in the stairwell of her Moscow apartment building.
November 17 after his condition deteriorated further, Litvinenko was transferred to University College Hospital in central London
He died six days later.
His widow Marina Litvinenko told that Alexander blamed the Kremlin for his death, apart from Russian President Vladimir Putin in charge of “everything that happened to him”.
Russian authorities deny all charges of involvement in Litvinenko’s death.
Way of the KGB dissidents
Alexander Litvinenko was born in Voronezh in 1962, he was called up for military service in the internal troops of the Ministry of Interior of the USSR in 1980 and in 1988 became a member of the Third Directorate of Military Intelligence of the KGB.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he became a member of the Federal Security Service of Russia and specialized in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.
In summer 1998, the main Russian security services headed by Vladimir Putin. It is believed that they differed when Litvinenko began to expose corruption in the ranks of the FSB.
In 1998, Alexander Litvinenko was arrested on charges of abuse of office. This happened after he and several colleagues during a press conference said that in 1997 they were ordered to kill Boris Berezovsky.
Nine months later, Litvinenko was released from the “Lefortovo” and the charges were dropped, but almost immediately were brought against him the new charges.
After leaving the service of the FSB, Litvinenko wrote a book “The FSB Blows Up Russia,” in which he accused the security services of involvement in the bombings of apartment buildings in Moscow and other cities in the fall of 1999.
The culprits then were called Chechen separatists. In his book, Litvinenko wrote that the blasts were needed to the Russian authorities as a pretext for the second Chechen war.
In 2000, Alexander Litvinenko fled to Britain and asked for political asylum, which he was granted. In October 2006, he received British citizenship.
polonium trail
After the death of Litvinenko suspect first fell on his acquaintances Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, a which he drank tea in the hotel bar “Millennium”.
According to investigators, the first attempt of poisoning has been made a month earlier, in October, during a meeting Litvinenko, Lugovoi and Kovtun in the office of a private firm in London’s Mayfair.
Forensic pathologist Dr Nathaniel Carey, who conducted the autopsy on Litvinenko, called it “the most dangerous opening , ever held in the Western world. ” He and his colleagues were working in protective suits, completely covers the body of oxygen inside the suit was fed through a tube.
The results of the autopsy showed that the death of Alexander Litvinenko, was the result of poisoning with radioactive polonium-210.
This was followed by an unusual police operation to search for traces of polonium around London. Radioactive traces were found, in particular, at the “Millennium” men’s club “Abracadabra” and football stadium “Emirates”, where Lugovoi watched the match between the London “Arsenal” and CSKA Moscow.
The investigation revealed that Litvinenko on the day of the poisoning also met with Italian Mario Scaramella, who is known as an expert in the field of security. The meeting took place in a cafe Itsu Sushi near Piccadilly Circus; her Scaramella, as he later said, gave Litvinenko documents relating to the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.
In addition, traces of polonium-210 were found in two planes at Heathrow, the British Embassy in Moscow, and in apartment Hamburg, which was related to Dmitry Kovtun.
About 700 people were tested for radiation poisoning – severe symptoms of poisoning, none of them were found.
stage of the investigation
The investigation Scotland Yard took two months; its results were handed over to the head of the prosecution service, Sir Ken Macdonald. In May 2007, he recommended a murder charge Andrei Lugovoi.
And Lugovoi and Kovtun deny any involvement in Litvinenko’s death.
During the press conference in Moscow, Mr Lugovoi insisted on innocence and he said that Litvinenko was an agent of British intelligence, which could kill him.
Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia has declared that Lugovoi can not and will not be extradited to Britain, as the constitution forbids the extradition of Russian citizens.
The relationship between the two countries deteriorated further in July 2007, when It was sent four employees of the British Embassy in Moscow and four Russian diplomats from the embassy in London.
United Kingdom ceased cooperation with the Russian special services – limited contacts were resumed only during the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014.
Sir Robert Owen – Judge coroner who conducted the case on the death of Litvinenko – proposed to hold a public inquiry, but the British government initially refused the idea.
The inquiry is not a judicial process. His goal – the most comprehensive clarification of the circumstances of the incident. At the same time formal charges are not nominated, and actors are only “stakeholders”.
The public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko, was opened in the High Court in London in January 2015. It was chaired by Sir Robert Owen. January 21, 2016, he presented the results of that inquiry.
Key dates
- November 23, 2006 – Alexander Litvinenko died three weeks after a meeting with Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun in London
- November 24, 2006 – the cause of death called the poisoning Pauline 210
- May 22, 2007 – head of the British Prosecution Service recommended the present charge Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Alexander Litvinenko
- May 31, 2007 – Mr Lugovoi denies any connection with the death of Litvinenko and insisted that he was an agent of British intelligence services
- July 5, 2007 – Russia refuses to extradite Lugovoi , referring to the country’s constitution
- May-June 2013 – the investigation into Litvinenko postponed, as the coroner decides in favor of public hearings, as in this case, some evidence may be kept confidential
- July 2013 – British authorities opposed the holding of public hearings. Marina Litvinenko appeals to the High Court in order to obtain a hearing
- July 2014 – Home Office announced that the Litvinenko case will be public hearings
- January 2015 – the beginning of the hearing in the High Court in London
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