Russia behind 2006 murder of Litvinenko

The European Court of Human Rights today ruled that Russia was responsible for the 2006 killing of Alexander Litvinenko.

The 43-year old ex-KGB officer was poisoned while drinking green tea laced with Polonium 210, a rare radioactive isotope, at the Millennium Hotel in London. He died a slow death a few weeks later.

In a statement, the ECHR said, “It found that Mr. Litvinenko’s assassination was imputable to Russia.”

The ruling continued, “The court found it established, beyond reasonable doubt that the assassination had been carried out by Mr Lugovoy (an ex-KGB bodyguard) and Mr Kovtun”.

Litvinenko was a British-naturalized Russian defector who worked for the Russian Federal Security Service. He was a long-time critic of the Kremlin, and especially critical of Putin.

He coined the phrase “mafia state”, referring to the corruption of Russian state officials, many of whom had ties to organized crime.
In October 2000, he left Russia with his family and flew to Britain via Turkey. He applied for political asylum which was granted on humanitarian grounds.

An investigation into his death by British authorities in 2016 led them to conclude that President Vladimir Putin likely approved a Russian intelligence operation for the murder.

Russia has always denied any involvement.