Putin implicated in fatal poisoning of former KGB spy at posh London hotel
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/putin-implicated-in-fatal-poisoning-of-former-kgb-spy-at-posh-london-hotel/2016/01/21/2c0c5052-bf92-11e5-98c8-7fab78677d51_story.htmlLONDON — Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely personally responsible for approving the fatal poisoning at a posh London hotel of a former KGB operative-turned-U.K. intelligence agent, according to the findings of a highly anticipated British inquiry released Thursday.
The conclusion, which comes nearly a decade after Alexander Litvinenko succumbed to the effects of the radioactive polonium slipped into his cup of green tea at London’s Millennium Hotel, is sure to raise tensions between London and Moscow.
Litvinenko's widow called Thursday for Britain to expel Russian intelligence officials and enact new sanctions in retaliation for the killing.
But the finding comes at a highly sensitive time, as the West seeks Russian cooperation in ending the Syrian war, and the British government may not want to add fresh hostility to an already troubled relationship.
The inquiry found that two men deliberately poisoned Litvinenko, and were almost certainly working on behalf of the Russian intelligence agency FSB. The two named assassins, Andrei Lugovoi and Dimitry Kovtun, remain in Russia, and the Russian government has rebuffed British attempts to secure their extradition. Lugovoi, a former KGB officer, is now a member of the Russian parliament. On Thursday he called the allegations against him "absurd."
Kovtun, now a businessman, did not respond to requests for comment. He told Russian journalists Thursday that he wanted to learn more about the report before responding to it.
The inquiry's findings, set out over 328 pages, include that Putin had a personal motive for wanting Litvinenko dead, and that the president would likely have had to approve a high-stakes operation to assassinate the former KGB operative on British soil. The assassination has been described by a British Parliamentary committee as "a miniature nuclear attack on the streets of London."
