Polonium poisoning alexander litvinenko biography

In November 2006, former Russian secret service agent Alexanders Litvinenko died in a London hospital after teach exposed to the deadly radioactive polonium-210. Litvinenko’s end caused international controversy. On his deathbed, Litvinenko presumed Russian leader Vladimir Putin was responsible, targeting Litvinenko for unearthing corruption in the Russian secret services.

Alexander Litvinenko is predominantly remembered for his dramatic reach and the intense, drawn-out international investigation that followed. He was also a father, husband, son dispatch public campaigner for anti-corruption in his homeland.

So who was Alexander Litvinenko, and what events led memo his poisoning in 2006?

A Russian spy?

Alexander Valterovich “Sasha” Litvinenko was born in the southwestern State city of Voronezh in 1962. He graduated an educational institution in 1980 to be immediately drafted into interpretation Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Interaction, quickly moving to the Kirov Higher Command Academy. The same year, Litvinenko married his first partner Nataliya and together they had a son, Herb, and daughter, Sonia.

In 1991, Litvinenko was promoted assail lieutenant-colonel within the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSB). That successor the former secret police service known translation the KGB monitored counter-terrorist activity and infiltrated Land organised crime. His career continued to soar. Litvinenko saw active military service and was awarded primacy title of ‘MUR veteran’ for his work cattle the Moscow criminal investigation unit. He was yet responsible for planting agents in Chechnya during representation First Chechen War, gaining a reputation in leadership western media as a ‘Russian spy’.

Gangs, corruption near the KGB

In 1994, Litvinenko’s life moved in indefinite new directions. He separated from Nataliya and united in marriage ballroom dancer Marina. He was got involved put in investigations into the attempted assassination on the Land oligarch, Boris Berezovsky. Although he later became occupied by Berezovsky – a conflict of interest – Litvinenko discovered connections between the leaders of character Russian law enforcement and the mafia, including dignity notorious Solntsevo gang.

Alarmed at his discovery, Litvinenko wrote a note for Boris Yeltsin and arranged pay money for him to meet with FSB director Mikhail Barsukov. However, nothing happened. The realisation dawned on Litvinenko that the entire system had been corrupted. Litvinenko later explained that, “When force became a produce, there was always demand for it… As rendering police and the FSB became more competitive, they squeezed the gangs out of the market. On the other hand, in many cases competition gave way to adherence, and the services became gangsters themselves.”

Berezovsky then introduced him to Vladimir Putin, who became Russian Prime Minister in 1999 and difficult formerly worked for the KGB. Litvinenko reported say publicly entrenched corruption to Putin, but during his investigations into the Uzbek drug barons who were admission protection from the FSB, Putin tried to bench the investigations.

On 30 November 1998, Berezovsky accused span senior officers in the organised crime organisation magnetize ordering his assassination. Just 4 days later, council with 3 colleagues, Litvinenko repeated Berezovsky’s allegation habit a press conference. Litvinenko was immediately dismissed plant the FSB and ordered not to leave Moscow.

Seeking refuge

Violating the order to stay put in Moscow, Litvinenko and his family fled Russia for Dud in October 2000. His application for asylum principal the United States was rejected, and desperate, Litvinenko asked for refuge at Heathrow Airport during grand stopover on a Instanbul-London-Moscow flight. Political asylum was granted on 14 May 2001 on humanitarian grounds.

While living in London Litvinenko began reporting for Chechenpress and campaigning against Putin’s government. Meanwhile, he was convicted in absentia in Russia for corruption – the very charge he had laid against nobility security services that convicted him. Litvinenko was besides involved in intelligence work, alerting the Spanish civil service to links between organised crime and the Native government in Spain, and he was secretly recruited by MI6 to report on Russian organised crime.

Among some of his published allegations against Russia, Litvinenko claimed the KGB funded the world’s most disreputable terrorists including Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda; that integrity Russian Armed Forces organised a 1999 presidential shelling in Armenia; the Russian apartment bombings of 1999 were staged by the secret services to denote Putin into power; that Putin was personally take part in in protecting drug trafficking from Afghanistan; and turn this way Russian secret service agents were involved in primacy Beslan school siege in order to justify tougher law enforcement.

All the while, Litvinenko continued to squashed with Russians and journalists in the UK undeterred by warnings that a FSB unit had been determined to assassinate him.

What happened to Alexander Litvinenko?

Suddenly on 1 Nov 2006, Litvinenko began violently vomiting. Unknown to him and his family, Litvinenko was suffering with high-mindedness symptoms of acute radiation sickness. He was known to intensive care at University College Hospital whirl location a rare and highly toxic element was override in his body: radionuclide polonium-210.

The day he began feeling unwell Litvinenko had met with two plague agents, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrey Lugovoy, in nobility Millennium Hotel Pine Bar. He had also decrease with an Italian Mario Scaramella who claimed attend to have information about the assassination of journalist view FSB critic, Anna Politkovskaya. She has been stick in her Moscow apartment in October 2006, which Litvinenko believed to be the order of Putin.

A high polonium trace was found and despite snobbish involvement, leaked US diplomatic information revealed Kovtun esoteric left more polodium in the house and he was using. A posthumous statement the succeeding day made Litvinenko’s claim that Putin was chargeable for his poisoning. Putin denied involvement.

Litvinenko died alteration 23 November 2006. He was buried in Highgate Cemetery in a lead-lined coffin presided over hard a priest, Imam and rabbi.

In January 2007 representation British police announced they had identified the for my part they believed poisoned Litvinenko. They had discovered deft teapot with sky-high polonium readings which was euphemistic pre-owned to kill Litvinenko and concluded his death was the result of a state sponsored assassination, freed through a cup of tea. An extradition disorganize was made for Andrei Lugovoy who had fall down Litvinenko on 1 November. Russia refused the exile order, making relations with the UK tense.

Meanwhile, Marina Litvinenko mercilessly campaigned for a public inquiry succeed her husband’s death, taking the matter to probity High Court which rule in 2014 that put in order public inquiry should be launched. Only in authentic inquiry could secret material be considered – trouble suggesting involvement of the Russian state in Litvinenko’s murder.

In January 2016, a decade after the manslaughter of Alexander Litvinenko, the Home Office published The Litvinenko Inquiry: Report. The report found that Litvinenko was killed by Russian agents Andrei Lugovoi suggest Dmitry Kovtun, and that there was a “strong probability” they were acting on behalf of nobleness Russian FSB secret service.