Putin "Probably Ordered" The Murder Of Alexander Litvinenko, Inquiry Finds
The Russian president “probably” gave his personal approval for the former KGB spy to be killed in London, a British judge said Thursday.
Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was "probably" assassinated on the personal instruction of Vladimir Putin, a UK inquiry has concluded.
Alexander Litvinenko at London’s University College Hospital on 20 November, 2006, three days before he died
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Litvinenko defected to the West in 2000, was granted asylum in 2001 and became a British citizen in October 2006.
He fell ill on the evening of 1 November 2006 after meeting Lugovoi and Kovtun for tea in a London hotel.
Hours before his death on 23 November, tests showed "extremely high levels" of the radioactive isotope polonium 210 in his body.
The inquiry ruled out suicide or accident as causes for Litvinenko's death, and concluded that he was "deliberately poisoned" and that the murder was "probably" approved by Putin and Nikolai Patrushev, former head of the FSB, the successor organisation to the KGB.
Vladimir Putin
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Speaking outside the High Court, Litvinenko's widow Marina welcomed the "damning findings" of the inquiry.
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