Russian president Vladimir Putin probably approved a Russian intelligence operation to murder ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British inquiry in to the 2006 killing in London has concluded, prompting a row with Moscow.
Russia, which had declined to co-operate in the inquiry, described Britain's handling of the case as opaque and biased.
The Kremlin has always denied any involvement, but the claim that Mr Putin had directly ordered a killing of an opponent in a major western capital provoked immediate censure from Moscow.
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Russia’s foreign ministry said what it termed Britain’s politicised, biased and opaque handling of the Litvinenko case had clouded relations between the countries.
Mr Litvinenko (43), an outspoken critic of Mr Putin who fled Russia six years before his murder, died after drinking green tea laced with the rare radioactive isotope polonium-210 at a London hotel.
From his deathbed, Litvinenko told detectives he believed Putin had directly ordered his killing.
The poisoners were former KGB bodyguard turned politician Andrei Lugovoy and fellow Russian Dmitry Kovtun, the report by senior judge Robert Owen said.
The inquiry said the men carried out the killing as part of an operation probably directed by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
Both men have denied involvement and refused to co-operate with the inquiry.
Mr Lugovoy was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the accusation was absurd.
Personal antagonism
The inquiry said there was personal antagonism between the men, and Mr Putin and members of his administration had motives for killing Mr Litvinenko.
The judge pointed to Mr Litvinenko’s work for British intelligence, criticism of the FSB and Mr Putin, and his association with other dissidents such as Boris Berezovsky as likely motives.
Tensions dated back to their only face-to-face meeting in 1998, when Mr Putin was head of the FSB and Mr Litvinenko wanted him to bring in reforms.
The dissident made “repeated highly personal attacks” on the Russian president after seeking asylum in the UK in 2000, including an allegation of paedophilia in July 2006.
“I am satisfied that in general terms, members of the Putin administration, including the president himself and the FSB, had motives for taking action against Litvinenko, including killing him, in late 2006,” the judge wrote.
The judge also said the ex-spy was regarded as having betrayed the FSB by accusing it of 1999 apartment block bombings that killed more than 200 and which Moscow blamed on Chechens.
‘Circumstantial’ evidence
The report said that although evidence was “circumstantial”, other cases suggested that “in the years prior to Litvinenko’s death the Russian state may have been involved in the assassination of Mr Putin’s critics”.
The judge said he was “sure” Mr Litvinenko’s murder had been carried out by Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun, who are both wanted by UK authorities but who Russia has refused to extradite.
The judge said he was sure Lugovoy and Kovtun had placed the polonium-210 in a teapot at the Millennium Hotel’s Pine Bar on November 1st, 2006 when they met Litvinenko for little more than 30 minutes.
Litvinenko said he had only drunk three or four mouthfuls of the tea.
High polonium contamination was found in the teapot and the hotel bar, and traces of the highly radioactive substance were left across London, including offices, hotels, planes and the Emirates Stadium.
The judge said the use of polonium-210 was “at the very least a strong indicator of state involvement”, as it had to be made in a nuclear reactor.
The inquiry heard evidence that Mr Litvinenko may have been consigned to a slow death from radiation rather than being shot in order to “send a message”.
The report said Mr Lugovoy has been “lionised” in Russia since the killing, becoming a member of the Duma, the Russian parliament, and receiving an award from Mr Putin.
The judge suggested this showed Moscow was signalling approval of the murder, although he stressed that this by itself did not necessarily mean it was involved.
Strained relations
There have been fears that linking the killing directly to Mr Putin could trigger fresh strain on relations between Britain and Russia.
The British government responded to the inquiry by saying it would summon Russia’s ambassador.
“The conclusion that the Russian state was probably involved in the murder of Mr Litvinenko is deeply disturbing,” interior minister Theresa May told parliament.
“This was a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and of civilised behaviour.”
British prime minister David Cameron said he would not rule out further action, but 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.”
Reaction
Mr Litvinenko’s widow Marina said outside the High Court 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”.
In a statement released from his deathbed in 2006, her husband had said: “You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.
“May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.”
Agencies