Craven! PM is accused over ‘Putin’s killing’ of dissident

DAVID Cameron was under fire last night for refusing to take action against Vladimir Putin over the polonium poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.

A public inquiry yesterday ruled the Russian leader was likely to have personally sanctioned the murder of the dissident, who had accused Mr Putin of being a paedophile.

Ex-KGB spy Mr Litvinenko was poisoned at a London hotel in 2006 with tea that had been laced with polonium-210.

Mr Cameron said the report’s findings were ‘shocking’ but refused to take tough action against Russia, saying Britain could not afford to lose Moscow’s help in Syria.

Mr Litvinenko, who took British citizenship after seeking asylum in 2000, was an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and also worked as an adviser for MI6.

His family’s lawyers said it would be ‘craven for the Government to do nothing in response’ to an act of ‘nuclear terrorism’ on British soil.

Labour called for tough diplomatic action, including expulsion of Russian intelligence officers from the UK but the PM insisted it would be wrong to sever ties.

He said: ‘Do we at some level have to go on having some sort of relationship with them because we need a solution to the Syria crisis? Yes, we do but we do it with clear eyes and a very cold heart.’

The report by former judge Sir Robert Owen concluded that:

Two former KGB agents killed Mr Litvinenko in November 2006 after a failed attempt the month before;

Hotels, airports, restaurants and even a football stadium were contaminated by radioactive material;

Mr Putin and intelligence chief Nikolai Patrushev ‘probably’ personally authorised the attack;

The plot began as far back as 2004 after he published books accusing the Russian security service of links to organised crime.

Mr Litvinenko’s widow Marina said yesterday: ‘Now it is time for David Cameron. I’m calling immediately for the expulsion from the UK of all Russian intelligence operatives… based in the London embassy.’

The Government hauled Russian

‘Blatant and unacceptable’

ambassador Alexander Yakovenko into the Foreign Office for a dressing-down. He described the meeting as ‘shadow-puppet theatre’, accusing Britain of using the case to ‘slander Russia’. Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the inquiry ‘an example of subtle British humour’. He said: ‘Such quasiinvestigations, as I would call them, can only further poison the atmosphere of our bilateral relations.’

Downing Street said Mr Cameron would raise the assassination with Mr Putin at ‘the earliest opportunity’ – but officials conceded there were no plans for a phone call. Theresa May told MPs the murder was a ‘blatant and unacceptable’ breach of international law.

The Home Secretary set out sanctions including the freezing of the UK assets of Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun – named in the report as Mr Litvinenko’s killers.

She said she would also ask Interpol to issue arrest warrants for the pair – should they ever leave Russia.

Former shadow home secretary David Davis said ‘We cannot tolerate their ordering assassinations on the streets of our country.’

Labour’s Andy Burnham said the UK should try to prevent Russia from staging the 2018 World Cup.

Moscow blamed British secret services for the assassination. A for- eign ministry spokesman, said: ‘We regret that the strictly criminal case has been politicised.’

The report found the plot to kill Mr Litvinenko began in 2004 after he accused Russian security services of links to organised crime and deliberately carrying out the 1999 bombings in Moscow that killed 307. He also claimed in 2006 that Mr Putin destroyed videotapes in the FSB archive of himself having sex with underage boys.

Mr Litvinenko was given green tea laced with polonium-210 at the Millennium hotel in London in November 2006, the report concluded. His killers survived as the radioactive material has to be ingested to kill.

A month earlier they had failed to get Litvinenko to consume a drink which had been similarly laced. Tests found British airports and flights to Europe and Russia were also contaminated. Sir Robert found the use of polonium was ‘a strong indicator of state involvement’ as it had to be made at a nuclear reactor.

Russia has refused to extradite the two suspects, instead showering them with honours. Lugovoi is now a prominent Russian MP.

Quentin Letts – Page 20