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| Britain Announces Inquiry Into Killing of Ex-K.G.B. Officer | Britain Announces Inquiry Into Killing of Ex-K.G.B. Officer |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| LONDON — Almost eight years after Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. whistle-blower, was poisoned to death in London with radioactive polonium, the British authorities announced on Tuesday that a public inquiry would be held into his death, permitting investigators to explore whether Russian leaders ordered the killing. | LONDON — Almost eight years after Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. whistle-blower, was poisoned to death in London with radioactive polonium, the British authorities announced on Tuesday that a public inquiry would be held into his death, permitting investigators to explore whether Russian leaders ordered the killing. |
| At a time when President Vladimir V. Putin faces mounting Western opprobrium for his support of pro-Russian separatists after the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner over eastern Ukraine, the announcement from Theresa May, the British home secretary, could be seen by Moscow as a further rebuke. British officials said the timing was a coincidence. | |
| “It is more than seven years since Mr. Litvinenko’s death, and I very much hope that this inquiry will be of some comfort to his widow,” Ms. May said in a written statement to Parliament. | “It is more than seven years since Mr. Litvinenko’s death, and I very much hope that this inquiry will be of some comfort to his widow,” Ms. May said in a written statement to Parliament. |
| The announcement reflected a remarkable about-face by the government of Prime Minister David Cameron, which has long resisted demands by Mr. Litvinenko’s supporters for scrutiny of any role in his death by the Russian state or the British intelligence services. | The announcement reflected a remarkable about-face by the government of Prime Minister David Cameron, which has long resisted demands by Mr. Litvinenko’s supporters for scrutiny of any role in his death by the Russian state or the British intelligence services. |
| “I am relieved and delighted with this decision,” Marina Litvinenko, the former K.G.B. officer’s widow, said in a statement, using the nickname by which family and friends knew her husband. “It sends a message to Sasha’s murderers: no matter how strong and powerful you are, truth will win out in the end and you will be held accountable for your crimes.” | |
| “It has taken nearly eight years to bring those culpable for Sasha’s murder to justice,” she said. “I look forward to the day when the truth behind my husband’s murder is revealed for the whole world to see.” | “It has taken nearly eight years to bring those culpable for Sasha’s murder to justice,” she said. “I look forward to the day when the truth behind my husband’s murder is revealed for the whole world to see.” |
| Mr. Litvinenko became a bitter foe of Mr. Putin in 1998 when the Russian leader, also a former K.G.B. officer, refused to investigate allegations of corruption and malfeasance in the ranks of the F.S.B., the domestic successor to the K.G.B. At the time, Mr. Putin was the newly appointed head of the F.S.B. | Mr. Litvinenko became a bitter foe of Mr. Putin in 1998 when the Russian leader, also a former K.G.B. officer, refused to investigate allegations of corruption and malfeasance in the ranks of the F.S.B., the domestic successor to the K.G.B. At the time, Mr. Putin was the newly appointed head of the F.S.B. |
| Mr. Litvinenko, 43, who fled to Britain with his family in 2000, died an excruciating death in November 2006, after drinking tea from a pot laced with polonium 210, a radioactive isotope, at a hotel in central London. The British authorities are seeking the extradition of Andrei K. Lugovoi, another former K.G.B. officer, to face murder charges. | Mr. Litvinenko, 43, who fled to Britain with his family in 2000, died an excruciating death in November 2006, after drinking tea from a pot laced with polonium 210, a radioactive isotope, at a hotel in central London. The British authorities are seeking the extradition of Andrei K. Lugovoi, another former K.G.B. officer, to face murder charges. |
| Russia has refused to hand over Mr. Lugovoi, saying its Constitution does not permit the extradition of its citizens. In a deathbed statement, Mr. Litvinenko accused Mr. Putin of responsibility for his poisoning, but the Russian leader dismissed the charge. | Russia has refused to hand over Mr. Lugovoi, saying its Constitution does not permit the extradition of its citizens. In a deathbed statement, Mr. Litvinenko accused Mr. Putin of responsibility for his poisoning, but the Russian leader dismissed the charge. |
| Plans to hold an inquest led by a senior judge, Sir Robert Owen, were dropped after the British Foreign Office invoked national security interests to prevent the inquest from even considering whether Moscow played a part in the killing or whether British intelligence could have prevented it. | Plans to hold an inquest led by a senior judge, Sir Robert Owen, were dropped after the British Foreign Office invoked national security interests to prevent the inquest from even considering whether Moscow played a part in the killing or whether British intelligence could have prevented it. |
| The judge said last year that the restrictions made it impossible to hold a “fair and fearless” inquest, and he urged the establishment of a public inquiry that would be empowered to hold closed-door sessions about possible involvement by the Kremlin or MI6, the British overseas intelligence agency. Ms. Litvinenko has said her husband was a paid agent of MI6 at the time he was killed. He and his family had been granted British citizenship weeks before his death. | |
| The British government initially refused to hold a public inquiry but, in February, three judges ordered Ms. May to reconsider. In her announcement on Tuesday, Ms. May said it would be up to Sir Robert, the judge, to make arrangements for the inquiry. Sir Robert would also preside over the inquiry, which would be empowered to determine “where responsibility for the death lies” and “make such recommendations as may seem appropriate.” | |
| Earlier in the long legal processthat led to Tuesday’s announcement, court filings indicated that Sir Robert believed the British government possessed documents that “establish a prima facie case as to the culpability of the Russian state in the death of Alexander Litvinenko.” | |
| The announcement on Tuesday included no overt restriction on assessing Moscow’s purported involvement. But it maintained some limitations on the scope of the proposed public inquiry, saying it “will not address the question of whether the U.K. authorities could or should have taken steps which would have prevented the death.” | |
| Mr. Litvinenko’s supporters have argued that, as a paid agent of MI6, he should have been protected from adversaries in the Kremlin. The announcement said, however, that there had been no evidence to suggest that Mr. Litvinenko “was or ought to have been assessed as being at a real and immediate threat to his life.” | |
| Mr. Litvinenko was a close associate of the former oligarch Boris A. Berezovsky, a critic of the Kremlin who was found dead last year in a locked bathroom at a luxury home outside London belonging to a former wife, Galina Besharova. | |
| A British coroner said in March that he could not establish whether Mr. Berezovsky’s death was a suicide or homicide, and returned an open verdict. |