The Crime Book

330

On 20 November, he allowed press

photographer Natasja Weitsz to

take a last photograph of him, to

show what Putin’s men had done.

By then, the medical team had

realized that the poison was not

thallium, but something worse.

While many of his symptoms fit the

criteria, he lacked a key indicator

of thallium poisoning – numbness or

pain in his extremities. A new urine

test revealed the presence of the

THE POISONING OF ALEXANDER LITVINENKO

radioactive isotope polonium-210 –

a rare and expensive poison that is

deadly when ingested. The doctors,

however, believed this result to be

anomalous, and proposed five

different theories on what was

killing their patient. Still, to be sure,

they sent a sample of Litvinenko’s

urine to the UK’s atomic weapons

establishment at Aldermaston in

Berkshire to test.

On 22 November, Litvinenko

drifted in and out of consciousness

in the intensive care ward. By

midnight, he had suffered two

cardiac arrests. He was unconscious

and on life support for most of the

following day, but had a third arrest

and was pronounced dead at

8:51pm on 23 November. That same

day, test results from Aldermaston

officially identified the poison as

polonium-210.

Forensic trail

After Litvinenko’s death, suspicion

around Lugovoi and Kovtun

intensified. The police tested a

number of premises for traces of

polonium. At the Pine Bar of the

Millennium Hotel, officers found

the substance everywhere. Traces

were discovered on the floor, chairs,

and tables where the Russians

had met, as well as in the teapot

and dishwasher. The teapot had

unknowingly been reused, but

fortunately had not caused any

further deaths.

Extrajudicial killing

These murders are carried out

by agents operating on the

orders of a government, in the

interests of the state. They

operate outside the law of that

state, in that the victim is put

to death without being allowed

a trial. Extrajudicial killings are

usually conducted as secret

missions by highly-trained

assassins working for the army,

intelligence services, or secret

police. Such killings occur when

a government wishes to

eliminate or silence a political

opponent – often, this is because

a trial would lead to the

exposure of information that the

government does not want

made public. In extreme cases,

extrajudicial killings are used to

eliminate a regime’s critics; this

usually occurs under particularly

oppressive regimes, as a means

of censorship.

There are many alternate,

subjective terms for extrajudicial

killings that attempt to spin

them as a necessary evil,

especially as targeted killing is

increasingly gaining legitimacy

as a counterinsurgency tactic.

You may have succeeded in

silencing one man but the

howl of protest from around

the world will reverberate,

Mr Putin, in your ears for the

rest of your life.

Alexander Litvinenko

This haunting image of Litvenenko

on his hospital death bed shows a bald,

gaunt, yet defiant man, staring directly

into the camera lens. It was published

in newspapers around the world.

326-331_Alex_Litvinenko.indd 330 02/12/2016 15:05

331

Marina Litvinenko holds a copy

of the 328-page report into her

husband’s death, in which former high

court judge Sir Robert Owen blamed

Russia’s President Putin for the murder.

In Kovtun’s room, several floors

above the Pine Bar, police forensic

teams took apart the bathroom

sink and found a clump of debris

containing 390,000 becquerels

of polonium. Ingested, 10,000

becquerels of polonium is enough

to kill a man. After the meeting,

it seemed, Kovtun had returned to

his room and slipped the rest of the

poison down the sink, to dispose

of the murder weapon.

In spite of these findings,

Lugovoi and Kovtun denied any

responsibility for Litvinenko’s

murder, and held a press conference

in Moscow claiming they were

innocent. Kovtun never explained

the polonium found in his

bathroom. Following a two-month

investigation, Scotland Yard

detectives recommended that

Andrei Lugovoi be charged with

murder. Moscow officials, however,

declared that Lugovoi would not be

ASSASSINATIONS AND POLITICAL PLOTS

sent back to London because the

constitution prevented the

extradition of Russian citizens.

Diplomatic consequences

For eight years, the transcripts of

Litvinenko’s interviews were kept

secret, marked restricted by

Scotland Yard. They were finally

released in 2015. In January 2016,

a public enquiry concluded that

The objects that came into direct contact with polonium-210

President Putin probably approved,

if not directly ordered, the

assassination of Litvinenko.

The murder of Litvinenko, an

M16 contractor, on British soil,

clouded relations between London

and Moscow. In July 2007, these

tensions were made manifest

with the expulsion of four Russian

embassy officials from Britain.

Russia retaliated in kind by

expelling British diplomats from

its embassies.

The UK subsequently broke

off its links with Russian security

services. While evidence clearly

pointed to Kovtun and Lugovoi,

no one has ever been brought to

justice for Litvinenko’s murder. ■

The teapot Litvinenko

used at the Pine Bar of

the Millennium Hotel

registered 100,000

becquerels.

The table the trio sat at in

the bar had a reading of

20,000 becquerels.

A chair facing away from

them at a nearby table

registered 20,000 becquerels.

The plughole in

Kovtun’s hotel bathroom

sink recorded 390,000

becquerels, which

suggests that

polonium-210

had been poured down

the sink.

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