Judge: Putin likely behind spy's death
LONDON — President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia’s FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko, who died three weeks after drinking tea laced with poison at a London hotel, a British judge said today.
In a lengthy report, Judge Robert Owen said that he is certain Litvinenko was given tea with a fatal dose of polonium-210, a radioactive isotope that is deadly if ingested even in tiny quantities, in November 2006.
He said there is a “strong probability” that the FSB, successor to the Soviet spy agency the KGB, directed the killing, and the operation was “probably approved” by Putin.
Before he died, Litvinenko accused Putin of ordering his killing, but this appears to be the first time anyone has officially linked Putin to it.
Litvinenko’s widow, Marina, said outside the High Court today that she was “very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr. Putin have been proved by an English court.”
Moscow has always strongly denied involvement in Litvinenko’s death, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zhakarova said today that the government does not consider Owen’s conclusions to be objective or impartial.
Russia has refused to extradite the two main suspects, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun.
Lugovoi is a member of the Russian parliament, which means he is immune from prosecution.
Litvinenko, a former FSB agent, fled to Britain in 2000 and became a vocal critic of Russia’s security service and of Putin, whom he accused of links to organized crime.
