On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights found that Russia was behind the murder of ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who died in 2016. Litvinenko was a former Russian spy who became a British citizen and a critic of the Kremlin. He was paid by the UK’s M16 secret service to investigate Russian mafia links with Spain and was poisoned with a rare radioactive substance called polonium-210 at a London hotel.
Britain concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin, had probably approved the murder which was an intelligence operation done by Russia. Moscow has denied any involvements in the assassination.
Britain found out polonium traces in offices, hotels, planes and Emirates stadium but was unable to conduct criminal proceedings since the primary suspect was in Russia and out of reach of Britain. The Russian authorities refused to conduct a domestic investigation into the murder which forced Marina, Litvinenko’s widow to take the case to European Court of Human Rights.
The British inquiry found that Adrei Lugovoy and Dmity Kovtun, carried out the murder as per the directions of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Lugovoy was a former bodyguard at KGB and a year after the murder, he became a member of Russia’s lower house of parliament for a right-wing nationalist party.
On November 1st of 2006, Litvinenko met with Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun for a cup of coffee and was soon admitted to hospital with severe illness. On 23rd November, Litvinenko died as his condition worsened. From his deathbed, Litvinenko informed detectives that he believed President Vladimir Putin had directly ordered his killing.
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