A judge in London says Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably" approved the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko by the country's intelligence service, the FSB.
The 43-year-old died from polonium-210 poisoning 3 weeks after meeting two Russian agents at a London hotel in 2006. The former KGB spy turned British citizen had sought refuge in the UK in 2000 after falling out with the Kremlin over his allegation's of corruption in Russia's intelligence service.
A long awaited inquiry into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko was published Thursday as Catherine Drew reports from London
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Supporters of Alexander Litvinenko called his poisoning at the London hotel in 2006 an act of nuclear state sponsored terrorism Now a public inquiry has endorsed that conclusion. after sixth months of hearings, chairman sir robert owen read his findings, signing blame to the FSB, russia's intelligence service and current President Vladimir Putin
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The men accused of Litvinenko's murder, andrei lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun have long denied any involvement in Litvinenko's death…..following the report mr logovoi, now a politician in russia called the accusaitons against him absurd. The russian foreign ministry responded by saying the case had been politicised and now overshadowed bilateral relations. However Alexander Litvinenki's widow Marina emerged from the London court to welcome the findings, saying the conclusions had vindicated her husband's death bed claims the president Putin was behind his murder.
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Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May appeared in parliament to say the conclusion of likely state involvement in the murder was shocking and unacceptable .
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Mrs May promised the British government would continue to seek the arrests of those involved while also demanding an explanation from Russia but said it wasn't possible for the UK to impose a travel ban on a head of state or cut its ties from Moscow entirely, due to wider geopolitical concerns like finding a solution to the syrian conflict.
Long time observers of this case say Russia was emboldened after Britain's failure to take stronger action against Moscow in 2006. Alan Cowell a British journalist who is a correspondent for the New York Times is also the author of the book, The Terminal Spy which examines the murder in detail
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"The Litvinenko death was very much like the canary in the mine, we wanted to know what kind of kremlin we were dealing with and now we've seen it and people did not confront russia and we've seen since then a reassertion of russia power
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The family of Alexander Litvibenko had fought a legal battle for years for this inquiry to take place Now Just over 9 years after his death, the family has some answers about who is likely to have approved the assassination…. but without the prospect of any formal prosecution.
Catherine Drew, sign off, London