LONDON (AP) – The latest developments in the lengthy British public inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.
10:05 a.m.
The widow of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko is relieved with the verdict of a British public inquiry into his death and is urging the British government to take steps against Russian agents operating inside Britain.
Marina Litvinenko said Thursday outside the High Court in London 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.”
Judge Robert Owen said Thursday he is certain that Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. He says there is a “strong probability” that the FSB directed the killing and the operation was “probably approved” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Owen said Litvinenko “had repeatedly targeted President Putin” with “highly personal” public criticism.
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9:40 a.m.
A British judge says Russian President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia’s FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko.
Judge Robert Owen said Thursday he is certain that Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. He says there’s a “strong probability” that the FSB directed the killing, and the operation was “probably approved” by Putin.
Litvinenko, a vocal critic of Putin, died after he was poisoned with polonium-210. He had fled from Russian to Britain in 2000 after breaking with Putin and his inner circle.
British police have accused Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi of carrying out the killing, sponsored by elements in the Kremlin. Both deny involvement, and Moscow refuses to extradite them.
The case led to a souring of British ties with Russia.