Public inquiry announced into death of Putin critic Litvinenko

The fatal poisoning in London of a former KGB agent who had become a public critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin is to be investigated by a public inquiry, British home secretary Theresa May has ruled.

The decision marks a reversal by the home secretary, who last year rejected calls for such an inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko on the grounds that it could impact on the UK's relations with Russia.

The new inquiry will be headed by the coroner, Sir Robert Owen, who originally investigated the poisoning in London. It will begin within days and is to be completed by the end of next year, Downing Street said yesterday.

Earlier this year, the high court in London was told by the coroner that classified British papers that could not be examined by an inquest – which must sit in public – strongly pointed to Russian involvement in his death.

In its judgment, the high court ruled the “focus of attention must plainly be” on the charges of Russian state responsibility, but they could not be investigated by the inquest because British ministers have blocked publication of key files.

Radioactive tea

Litvinenko (43) died in November 2006 three weeks after he apparently drank tea poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 during a meeting in a London hotel with two former KGB colleagues.

His widow, Marina, who has campaigned for a public inquiry ever since his death in a London hospital, has argued he had been working for MI6 when he was poisoned and was killed on the Kremlin’s orders.

Despite the timing of the home secretary's announcement, the British government repeatedly insisted that it is not linked to the sharp deterioration in British/Russian relations since last week's downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet in the Ukraine.

The inquiry will not, however, investigate whether the British authorities could have saved Litvinenko’s life, because the coroner has already ruled that there had been nothing beforehand to indicate that a “real or immediate” threat existed.

‘Sasha’s murderers’

Delighted by the decision,

Ms Litvinenko

said: “I am relieved and delighted with this decision.

“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. I look forward to the day when the truth behind my husband’s murder is revealed for the whole world to see,” she went on.

The inquiry will have the power to compel British-based witnesses to appear before it, though the two men linked to Litvinenko's death, former KGB officers, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, living in Moscow, will not attend.

Meanwhile, a public inquiry will have powers to investigate papers that could not be put before an inquest, but such papers are almost certainly going to be examined during closed sessions, home office sources indicated.