Alexander Litvinenko's widow: inquiry will find truth over husband's poisoning
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Version 0 of 1. The widow of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB spy poisoned in a London hotel in 2006, has said she believes a new public inquiry into his death will reveal whether the Russian state supplied the radioactive material used to kill him. Marina Litvinenko said the decision announced in parliament on Tuesday morning by the home secretary Theresa May could help usher in a new era of Russian politics by exposing whether the Kremlin was behind her husband's murder. May said the inquiry will seek to find out who was responsible for the killing amid claims, denied by Moscow, that the Russian state was involved. Its announcement five days after the shooting down of a Malaysian passenger jet over eastern Ukraine has been described as "serious warning shot" by the UK aimed at Vladimir Putin, amid worsening relations between Russia and the west. Litvinenko died a painful death aged 43 after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210 with two Russian men at the Millennium hotel in Grosvenor Square, central London, in November 2006. The former KGB agents Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun have been identified as the prime suspects. Both deny any involvement and remain in Russia, where Lugovoi is a deputy in the state Duma. "I am very pleased [with] this decision," said Marina Litvinenko. "Even Russian people know it was Russian people who were behind this crime, but they are OK with Mr Lugovoi being in parliament? How can this person, who is a suspect, provide policy for these Russian citizens? It is important to send this message to Russian people: you need to open your eyes to the truth. Who is making policy in your country?" Her lawyer, Elena Tsirlina, said they expect the inquiry to expose whether the Russian state provided the radioactive poison that was brought into the UK, but they do not expect Putin to reverse his decision not to allow suspects to be extradited from Russia. "It will show who is behind this crime and I would like people to take responsibility for this," said Litvinenko. "We need to stop this. It must not happen again and it is this public inquiry that will help us find the truth and might stop these people." The UK Crown Prosecution Service charged Lugovoi with murder by deliberate poisoning six months after Litvinenko died and the then director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, said Lugovoi should be extradited from Russia to face trial for "an extraordinarily grave crime". Litvinenko's family believes he was working for MI6 at the time he died and was killed on the orders of the Kremlin. Russia denies any involvement. The new inquiry will be chaired by Sir Robert Owen, a high court judge and coroner in the current inquest. He has previously said there is material that does "establish a prima facie case as to the culpability of the Russian state" and called on May to order an inquiry. It will allow him to see confidential evidence held by the British state that was not accessible during the inquest. May had previously resisted calls for a public inquiry, admitting "international relations have been a factor in the government's decision-making". Those objections appear to have fallen away amid worsening relations between Russia and the West. "It is impossible to imagine this is not linked to the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner," said David Clark, chairman of the Russia Foundation and a former adviser to the Labour foreign secretary, Robin Cook. "Events in Ukraine would have been front and centre in consideration about whether to launch this inquiry. Upsetting Russia is now no obstacle." He said it was "an aggressive move" as "having pushed the button they can't pull back from the consequences if relations with Russia start to improve." "Once you have unleashed the dogs on this, you can't call them back," he said. Litvinenko said she didn't believe the inquiry decision was prompted by the downing of the Malaysian passenger jet, but she did suggest if the Russian government had been held to account for her husband's death in 2006, events in Ukraine may have turned out differently. "I want to know who sent [the polonium]? Is Russia responsible for this? Go to the present day. Who provides all of these weapons in Ukraine? If there had been a proper investigation in 2006 and there had been normal justice, who knows, would we have this situation today?" Earlier, May said the inquiry would "identify, so far as is consistent with the Inquiries Act 2005, where responsibility for the death lies", how, when and where Litvinenko died and "make such recommendations as may seem appropriate". "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." Claims about Alexander Litvinenko's links to the British secret services have raised questions about whether his life should have been better protected by the UK. But May said there is no evidence he was, or ought to have been, assessed as being at real and immediate threat to his life. As a result the inquiry "will not address the question of whether the UK authorities could or should have taken steps which would have prevented the death". |