Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko

Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and KGB, who fled from court prosecution in Russia and received political asylum in the United Kingdom.

On November 1, 2006, Litvinenko suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized. He died three weeks later, becoming the first confirmed victim of lethal polonium-210-induced acute radiation syndrome. Litvinenko's allegations about the misdeeds of the FSB and his public deathbed accusations that Russian president Vladimir Putin was behind his unusual malady resulted in worldwide media coverage.

Subsequent investigations by British authorities into the circumstances of Litvinenko's death led to serious diplomatic difficulties between the British and Russian governments. During the 2014–2015 trial the Scotland Yard representative witnessed that "the evidence suggests that the only credible explanation is in one way or another the Russian state is involved in Litvinenko's murder". Another witness stated that Dmitry Kovtun had been speaking openly about the plan to kill Litvinenko that was intended to "set an example" as a punishment for a "traitor". The main suspect in the case, a former officer of the Russian Federal Protective Service (FSO), Andrey Lugovoy, remains in Russia. As a member of the Duma, he now enjoys immunity from prosecution. Before he was elected to the Duma, the British government tried to have him extradited without success.

At the same time, Litvinenko's father, now residing in Italy, believes Boris Berezovsky and Alexander Goldfarb were behind the murder. Berezovsky was found dead at his home in England on 23 March 2013.

Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security service who escaped prosecution in Russia and received political asylum in the United Kingdom. In his books, Blowing up Russia: Terror from Within and Lubyanka Criminal Group, Litvinenko described Russian president Vladimir Putin's rise to power as a coup d'état organised by the FSB. He alleged that a key element of the FSB's strategy was to frighten Russians by bombing apartment buildings in Moscow and other Russian cities. He accused Russian secret services of having arranged the Moscow theater hostage crisis, through their Chechen agent provocateur, and having organised the 1999 Armenian parliament shooting. He also stated that the terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri was under FSB control when he visited Russia in 1997.

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