Putin behind fatal poisoning of ex-KGB spy, U.K. probe says
LONDON — Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely personally responsible for approving the fatal poisoning at a posh London hotel of a former KGB operative-turned-British intelligence agent, according to the findings of a highly anticipated British inquiry released Thursday.
The conclusion, which comes nearly a decade after Alexander Litvinenko succumbed to the effects of radioactive polonium slipped into his cup of tea at London’s Millennium Hotel, is sure to raise tensions between London and Moscow.
Litvinenko’s widow called Thursday for Britain to expel Russian intelligence officials and enact new sanctions in retaliation for the killing. But the finding comes at a highly sensitive time as the West seeks Russian co-operation in ending the Syrian war and the British government may not want to add fresh hostility to an already troubled relationship.
The inquiry found that two men deliberately poisoned Litvinenko and were almost certainly working on behalf of the Russian intelligence agency FSB. The two alleged assassins, Andrei Lugovoi and Dimitry Kovtun, remain in Russia and the Russian government has rebuffed British attempts to secure their extradition.
Lugovoi, a former KGB officer who is now a member of Russian parliament, called the allegations against him “absurd” on Thursday. Kovtun, now a businessman, did not respond to requests for comment. He told Russian journalists Thursday he wanted to learn more about the report before responding to it.
The inquiry’s findings, set out over 328 pages, include that Putin had a personal motive for wanting Litvinenko dead and the president would likely have had to approve a high-stakes operation to assassinate the former KGB operative on British soil. The assassination has been described by a British parliamentary committee as a “miniature nuclear attack on the streets of London.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry quickly dismissed the report’s conclusions Thursday as “politically motivated.”
Before his death, Litvinenko had been an outspoken Putin critic and had been assisting Spanish intelligence agencies with their investigations into Russian crime networks. Litvinenko was also on the payroll of Britain’s main foreign intelligence service, MI6.
Litvinenko himself had accused Putin of orchestrating the assassination, signing a death-bed statement that alleged the Russian president had ordered Russian intelligence to carry out the killing.