Who is Alexander Litvinenko? So who is Alexander Litvinenko and why does his name continue to receive so much attention? Who is Litvinenko?

03.08.2019

And the author of the book “Lubyanskaya criminal group", in which he accuses the Russian special services of organizing the bombings of residential buildings in Russia in 1999 and other terrorist attacks, the purpose of which, in his opinion, was the rise to power of Vladimir Putin.

Died as a result of polonium-210 poisoning. As of 2012, Scotland Yard's investigation into the circumstances of the poisoning continues.

Biography

early years

Activities in state security agencies

Over the next 15 years, he rose from lieutenant of internal troops, platoon commander, to lieutenant colonel of the FSB.

The leadership of the FSB put forward a counter-version that there was no order, but an accidental careless phrase in relation to Berezovsky, and also that the above officers were involved in various types of crimes, such as: kidnappings, beatings, “protection protection” for businessmen, excess official powers. Soon after the scandal, FSB director Kovalev was removed, and the FSB URPO was disbanded.

After leaving the FSB, Litvinenko worked as an adviser to the security department of the CIS Executive Secretariat (then headed by Berezovsky).

Criminal prosecution and emigration

According to Litvinenko, two weeks after the press conference, an attempt was made on his life near his home. In March 1999, he was arrested on charges of abuse of power and placed in the FSB Lefortovo detention center. In November 1999, he was acquitted, but right in the courtroom, after the acquittal was read out to him, he was arrested by the FSB and placed in a pre-trial detention center in Butyrka prison for the second criminal case.

In July 2002, the FSB asked British intelligence agencies to question Litvinenko about his links to the main suspect in the 1999 Russian bombings, Achimez Gochiyaev; Litvinenko stated that he was ready to give evidence in accordance with the law, but to the police, and not to the intelligence service MI5, which he, as a former intelligence officer, considers incorrect.

In England, Litvinenko received £4,500 a month for living from a fund supervised by Berezovsky, then the amount was reduced to £1,500. Litvinenko also worked as a consultant and intermediary, bringing British companies together with interested people from Russia.

In 2005, in an interview with the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, Litvinenko said that one of the leaders of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was trained by the FSB.

Litvinenko has repeatedly claimed that an attempt is being made on his life:

I'll tell you, if they listen to me, let them know: I don't hire bodyguards for my protection, I don't hide in different apartments, as they say - a running lieutenant colonel or a running away one. I have never run away from anyone, I left Russia legally using my passport, I live openly, all journalists can find me, they know where I live. So, gentlemen, if you come to kill me personally in the UK, then you will have to do it openly.

Circumstances preceding death

Scaramella organized a press conference in Rome and also participated in a television interview with a British channel. He spoke about his meeting and fears for his life. Lugovoi and "Vladimir" have not been seen in the United Kingdom since the poisoning. In a conversation with The Times journalist in Moscow, Lugovoi denied the suspicions. .

On November 11, 2006, the alleged poisoning of Litvinenko became known to the press.
On 17 November 2006, Litvinenko was transferred to London University Hospital ( English).
On 19 November 2006, it was announced that Litvinenko had been poisoned with thallium.
On November 21, 2006, doctors began to doubt thallium poisoning, and a version of poisoning with a radioactive substance appeared.
On November 22, 2006, according to one of the leaders of the Chechen separatists, Akhmed Zakayev, in an interview with Radio Liberty, Litvinenko converted to Islam in his presence in the hospital. This was confirmed by Litvinenko's father.
On November 23, 2006 at 21:21 (00:21 November 24 Moscow time) Litvinenko died from an attack of acute heart failure. 3 hours before his death, traces of polonium were found in his urine. His body was not opened for a long time due to fears of exposing doctors to radiation.
On December 7, 2006, Litvinenko was buried in a closed sarcophagus (from an interview with Akhmed Zakaev).

Alexander Litvinenko left his wife Marina and son Anatoly, and two children from a previous marriage also remained in Russia.

Mario Scaramella

Death

On the night of November 23, 2006, Litvinenko's health condition deteriorated sharply, and on November 23 at 21:21 local time he died at University College London Hospital. Police were investigating his death as "unexplained causes."

Background. From the book by A. Goldfarb and M. Litvinenko “Sasha, Volodya, Boris.” Litvinenko Golfarb:

On November 24, Litvinenko’s close friend, chairman of the Civil Liberties Foundation financed by Boris Berezovsky, Alexander Goldfarb, read out on English language the text of the statement signed, according to him, by Litvinenko on the morning of November 21 in the presence of his wife, when he “realized to himself that he might not survive.”

I would like to thank a lot of people. My doctors, nurses and hospital staff who do everything they can for me; the British police, who put so much effort and professionalism into investigating my case and keeping me and my family safe. I would also like to thank the British government for looking after me and for the honor of being a British citizen.

I would like to thank the people of Britain for their expressions of support and interest in my suffering.

I thank my wife Marina, who was with me all this time. My love for her and our son knows no bounds.

Now I lie here and clearly hear the beating of the wings of the angel of death. I may be able to escape him, but I have to say that my legs are no longer as fast as I would like. So I think it's time to say a few words to the person responsible for my current condition.

You may be able to silence me, but this silence will not pass without a trace for you. You have shown that you are the ruthless barbarian that your cruelest critics portray you to be.

You have shown that you have no respect for human life, freedom and other values of civilization.

You have shown that you are unworthy of your position, unworthy of the trust of civilized people.

You may be able to silence one person, but protests around the world will ring in your ears, Mr. Putin, for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you did - not only to me, but also to my beloved Russia and its people.

On November 24, scientists from the British Health Agency (BHA) announced that Litvinenko died from radioactive contamination. According to Roger Cox, head of the BAZ Center for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Risks, urine tests revealed traces of radiation believed to be caused by polonium-210 (Po-210). He also stated that in small doses Po-210 increases the risk of malignant neoplasms, and in large quantities disrupts the activity of the bone marrow, digestive system and other vital organs.

BAZ investigated the possible risks for people who had contact with Litvinenko, including medical staff.

Litvinenko's funeral took place at Highgate Cemetery in London. Scotland Yard took on the “Litvinenko case”. Akhmed Zakayev, who attended the funeral, said that Litvinenko could be reburied in the Caucasus.

Inquiry into Litvinenko's death

Alexander Litvinenko's grave

In particular, despite repeated requests from the Russian prosecutor's office, the British authorities have not made public the results of the pathological examination of Litvinenko, which have important to determine the cause of his death. American newspaper « New York Sun ( English)" assessed the evidence of A. Lugovoy's guilt provided by the English side as "stunningly weak."

The General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation is studying versions of the involvement of B. Berezovsky, L. Nevzlin and others in the poisoning.

A number of Western and Russian media question the conclusions of the British investigation and put forward another version about Litvinenko’s attempt to become an intermediary in the illegal sale of radioactive substances and his death as a result of careless handling of polonium.

Berezovsky said on this matter: “If such a version existed as a real one, then Scotland Yard should have long ago become interested in this version and not go to Moscow at the very beginning of the investigation, but first find out whether this version is true.” Berezovsky said that “all these numerous versions” “are only a consequence of the fact that the Russian authorities want to cover up this crime.”

According to Berezovsky's partner, Alexander Goldfarb, the anonymous hero of Vesti Nedeli is Vladimir Ivanovich Teplyuk, who emigrated to London from Kazakhstan and sought political refugee status for several years. According to Goldfarb, Teplyuk has repeatedly said publicly that he was hired to poison Berezovsky. According to Goldfarb, Teplyuk actually approached them and talked about a possible assassination attempt on Berezovsky. “However, we told him, if you know something, go to the police,” Goldfarb said in an interview with Gazeta.ru. Ru".

London police have not commented on the report Russian television about a new witness in the Litvinenko case. “We do not discuss issues of providing personal protection to people,” said a spokesman for Scotland Yard.

Allegations of Litvinenko's collaboration with British intelligence services

Andrei Lugovoi claimed at his press conference that Litvinenko tried to persuade him to cooperate with the British intelligence service MI6. In October 2007, the British newspaper Daily Mail published, citing unnamed "authoritative sources in the intelligence and diplomatic services," allegations that Litvinenko was personally recruited by the current director of this intelligence service, John Scarlett ( English) and on his initiative moved to the UK, where he received a monthly salary of 2,000 pounds sterling. Andrei Lugovoi said in this regard: the publication “confirms that the masterminds of the crime must be looked for in England.”

Later (16.10.11) Litvinenko’s widow said that her husband was a consultant as part of the British intelligence service’s operation to combat the Russian organized crime in Europe, reports the British newspaper Mail of Sunday. According to Marina Litvinenko, her husband’s fee for services was measured in tens of thousands of pounds sterling. The widow explained that she had not spoken about this before out of respect for the memory of Alexander Litvinenko, but now the time had come to do so in order to help the judicial inquiry establish the causes and circumstances of her husband’s death. Hearings in London on this issue began on October 16, 2011. .

Publications

Opinions about Litvinenko and his activities

Family

Litvinenko's father reported on the family's plight in Italy. The family subsequently received a temporary subsidy. Both father and brother condemned Putin. Walter Litvinenko at that time had no doubt who killed his son.

In 2012, Walter Litvinenko radically changed his opinion about his son: “I called Boris Abramovich Berezovsky, he doesn’t want to talk to me at all... - Should I now shout and make noise all over the world for my traitorous son? When did I find out that this was the work of intelligence services, what does all this have to do with it? So I’m telling you, this click in my head is like MI5 or MI6.” “Vladimir Vladimirovich, if you can hear me, please forgive me. If I had known that my son worked for British intelligence, I would not even talk about his death. Our special services could simply shoot him, and they would have the right to do so. Traitors must be shot. That's all".

In connection with the above public statements discrediting Alexander Litvinenko, Walter Litvinenko was expelled from the International Katyn II Committee, an international human rights organization engaged in an independent investigation into the circumstances of the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash near Smolensk.

The chairman of the Civil Liberties Foundation, financed by Boris Berezovsky, Alexander Goldfarb, said that “Father Litvinenko’s ‘Repentance’ is Putin’s dirty election technology.”

Notes

Walter Litvinenko: “Today my son would have turned 44,” Walter Aleksandrovich Litvinenko, December 4, 2006, ChechenPress
(English) The Independent: “Alexander Litvinenko: KGB secret agent turned political dissident who lifted the lid on the Russian security services”, November 25, 2006
Lenta.ru: “Litvinenko, Alexander”
Alexander Litvinenko, Yuri Felshtinsky. The FSB is blowing up Russia.
Radio Liberty: "Litvinenko's death: three years without answers", November 23, 2009
Alexander Litvinenko arrested
http://obzor.ua/ru/world/2006/11/24/10264
“How did Alexander Litvinenko interfere with Berezovsky and the British intelligence services?”
, NEWSru.com October 21, 2003
Former colleagues of Vladimir Putin were preparing an assassination attempt on him in London. NEWSru (October 20, 2003). Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
FSB trained Osama Bin Laden's main assistant //FSB trained Osama Bin Laden's main assistant, July 16, 2007
Lubyanka is behind the cartoons in the Danish newspaper
Terror and anti-terrorism in the political life of modern Russia
Recording of Berezovsky's interrogation by Scotland Yard on behalf of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office
Video of Litvinenko's final speech on the murder of Anna Politkovskaya
Irina Khakamada: “Litvinenko raved about my visits to the Kremlin”
Khakamada: Litvinenko’s accusation against Putin is nonsense
Is the Soviet Lunokhod to blame for Litvinenko's death?
Interview with Andrei Lugovoy to the radio station “Echo of Moscow”
“Vyacheslav Sokolenko: I came to London because of CSKA (La Republica)”
“Litvinenko was poisoned with thallium. He may need surgery."
"Litvinenko is dying"
(English) "Case of the poisoned spy puts Kremlin in the dock"
Litvinenko converted to Islam and asked to be considered a martyr
Chechen separatists: Litvinenko converted to Islam before his death
The tabloid suspected Litvinenko of having ties to al-Qaeda
Litvinenko's father confirmed that shortly before his death his son converted to Islam
“Testimony of Akhmed Zakayev in the case of Alexander Litvinenko”
“Litvinenko lied about Romano Prodi’s connections with the KGB, says former intelligence officer”
Mario Scaramella on Lentapedia
Italian Scaramella, who met with Litvinenko, was subjected to lengthy interrogation in Rome
Thallium soup
Italian acquaintance of Alexander Litvinenko arrested
Scaramella charged in Italy with false testimony in nuclear smuggling case
Witness in the Litvinenko case, Mario Scaramella, arrested in Naples
Scaramella lied about KGB “uranium smuggling”
The Litvinenko case: secrets around Mario Scaramella // Le Figaro, January 4, 2007
Mario Scaramella gave false testimony about KGB activities
Rome prosecutors conduct first interrogation of Mario Scaramella
Scaramella arrested
Litvinenko's dying statement released
Alexander Litvinenko blames Vladimir Putin for his death, radio Ekho Moskvy, November 24, 2006.
Statement read on behalf of Litvinenko
Interview with Andrey Nekrasov
Richard Beeston. The bastards got me, they won’t get us all. Poisoned spy defiant in final interview before his death The Times November 24, 2006
Russian translation of the article by Mr. Richard Beeston
Ex-KGB spy "poisoned by alpha radiation" - Telegraph
Dead spy was a victim of radiation | World news | guardian.co.uk
Fallout spreads from Russian spy death - Times Online
BBC | Russia | Moscow is asked to help in the investigation into Litvinenko's death
Zakaev intends to rebury Litvinenko in the Caucasus - Litvinenko Zakaev - Rosbalt
Interview with Andrey Lugovoy
Lugovoy, Andrey
News. Ru: Witness in the “Litvinenko case” Dmitry Kovtun: “I poisoned myself with polonium back in October”
David Leppard and Mark Franchetti. Litvinenko: clues point to Kremlin. Britain blames FSB for killing The Sunday Times July 22, 2007
Litvinenko was killed on orders from the FSB, investigators believe NEWSru.com July 22, 2007
Transcript of the press conference of the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation A. G. Zvyagintsev and the Deputy Head of the Department for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases A. A. Mayorov on issues of cooperation of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation // Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, July 23, 2007
Russian diplomats left London // Dni.Ru, July 27, 2007

The Millennium Hotel is an unusual place for a murder. Its windows overlook Grosvenor Square, and next door is the heavily guarded US Embassy, rumored to house a CIA office on the fourth floor. At the north end of the square stands a statue of Franklin D. Roosevelt wearing a wide-brimmed hat and carrying his famous cane. In 2011, a new monument was erected nearby, this time to Ronald Reagan. The inscription on the pedestal glorifies his “decisive intervention in world politics in the name of ending cold war" A friendly dedication from Mikhail Gorbachev reads: “Together with President Reagan, we traveled around the world - from confrontation to cooperation.”

In light of the events that took place just around the corner, these quotes seem laced with poisonous irony, and especially against the backdrop of Vladimir Putin's apparent attempts to turn back the hands of time to 1982, when former KGB boss Yuri Andropov ruled the doomed empire called the USSR . A sand-colored stone is built into the base of the statue. This is a fragment of the Berlin Wall, removed from its eastern side. Reagan, it is written on the monument, defeated communism. It was the final triumph of Western democratic values and free societies.

Five hundred meters from the monument is Grosvenor Street. It was here, in mid-October 2006, that two Russian killers made their first unsuccessful attempt. The performers' names were Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun. The victim was to be Alexander Litvinenko, a former officer of the Russian intelligence service FSB. In 2000, he fled Moscow. In exile in England, he has become Putin's fiercest and most irritating critic. Litvinenko was a writer and journalist, and from 2003 until the last day of his life, a British agent hired by MI6 as an expert on Russian organized crime.

IN Lately Litvinenko supplied Her Majesty's secret agents and their Spanish colleagues with shocking information about the activities of the Russian mafia in Spain. The mafia had an extensive network of contacts among the largest Russian politicians. Apparently, the tracks led to the presidential administration - this began back in the 1990s, when Putin, as an assistant to the mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak, worked closely with bandits. A week later, Litvinenko was supposed to testify to the Spanish prosecutor. That is why the Kremlin made such desperate attempts to remove him.

The guests from Moscow brought with them, as Kovtun told his friend, “very expensive poison.” He knew almost nothing about its properties. It was polonium-210, a rare radioactive isotope, undetectable, invisible, untraceable. If ingested, death is guaranteed. Polonium, produced by a nuclear reactor in the Urals and then rolled off the assembly line of the plant in Sarov, this “research institute” and secret laboratory of the FSB. It was there that real portable weapons were made from polonium.

Despite all this, Lugovoi and Kovtun turned out to be worthless killers. The golden age of the KGB has passed, and the quality of contract killers in Moscow has dropped dramatically. Their first attempt to kill Litvinenko in a conference room on Grosvenor Street failed. They lured the victim to a business meeting, where - subsequently stained with radioactive contamination - they poured polonium into his cup or glass. Litvinenko, however, did not touch the drink. On November 1, 2006, he stubbornly stayed alive.

Like most prestigious London hotels, the Millennium has a system security video surveillance. The multi-screen system broadcasts signals from 48 cameras. 41 of them were working that day. The system takes a frame every two seconds, the recording is stored for 31 days. The video, of course, is of disgusting quality; it is reminiscent of the first experiments in the history of cinema: the picture jumps, the image blurs and every now and then becomes indistinguishable. But this is an honest document. Frame dating - days, hours, minutes - records the time of any event. This cut is like a time machine, a journey into the reality of the past.

But even the most modern video surveillance systems are imperfect. Certain corners of Millennium remained out of sight of the cameras - something that Lugovoi, the surveillance expert, and Kovtun, the former bodyguard, of course noticed. One of the cameras was mounted above the reception desk. The recording shows the counter itself, three monitors and an employee in a hotel uniform. To the left you can see part of the foyer, two white leather sofas and an armchair. Another camera - difficult to notice unless you look closely - records what is happening on the way to the elevator.

There are two bars on the ground floor of the hotel, the entrance to them is through the foyer. There is also a large restaurant and cafe. And a small Pine Bar if you turn left just after the revolving front doors. Interior - leather and wood; very cozy. Three bay windows overlook the square. From a CCTV and security perspective, Pine Bar is a black hole. Guests here are completely invisible.

On the evening of October 31, camera No. 14 recorded: at 20:04 a man in a black leather jacket and mustard-colored sweater approaches the reception desk. With him are two young women, they have long, well-groomed hair. blonde hair, these are his daughters. Another figure separates from the sofa. This is an amazingly tall, strong guy; he is wearing a black puffy vest and what appears to be a hand-knitted Harry Potter scarf. The scarf is red and blue, these are the colors of the Moscow football club CSKA.

The video captured the moment when Lugovoi was checking into the hotel. Over the past three weeks, this was his third unplanned trip to London. This time he was accompanied by his whole family - his wife Svetlana, daughter Galina and eight-year-old son Igor - and his friend Vyacheslav Sokolenko, the same man in the scarf. At the hotel, Lugovoy met with his second daughter, Tatyana. She arrived from Moscow the day before with her boyfriend Maxim Beyak. The next evening the whole company planned to attend the CSKA - Arsenal match. Like Lugovoi, Sokolenko previously worked in the KGB. But he, British investigators decided, had nothing to do with the murder.

CCTV footage shows Kovtun arriving at the hotel the next morning at 8.32am - a tiny figure with a black bag slung over his shoulder. The events of the next few hours are widely and infamously known. Litvinenko as a doomed victim, the Russian state as a vengeful deity, and the media a kind of excited chorus in a Greek tragedy. In fact, what happened was largely a pure improvisation and could easily have gone according to a different scenario. Lugovoi and Kovtun decided to lure Litvinenko to new meeting. However, judging by the available data, at that time they did not yet know how to kill him.

Litvinenko met Lugovoi in Russia in the 1990s. Both worked for oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Later, the eccentric Berezovsky would become Litvinenko's patron. In 2005, Lugovoy renewed contact with Litvinenko and proposed working together advising Western companies that wanted to invest in Russia. At 11:41 Lugovoi will call Litvinenko on his mobile and offer to meet. Why not meet on the same day at the Millennium? Litvinenko replied: “Yes” - and everything started to happen.

Subsequently, Scotland Yard will accurately restore Litvinenko's route of travel on November 1: a bus from his house in Muswell Hill in north London, the subway to Piccadilly Circus, a three-hour lunch with Italian partner Mario Scaramella at the Itsu sushi bar - also in Piccadilly. Lugovoi, meanwhile, is becoming increasingly impatient, calling Litvinenko several times, last time- at 15:40. He tells his intended victim to "hurry up", citing the fact that he is about to leave to watch football.

Lugovoi will tell British detectives that he returned to the Millennium at four o'clock. The cameras will prove otherwise: at 15:32 he asks the administrator how to get to the toilet. Another camera, No. 4, will record him climbing the stairs leading from the foyer. This entry attracts attention: Lugovoi looks preoccupied. He is unusually pale, gloomy, his face seems gray. The left hand is in the jacket pocket. In two minutes he will come out of the toilet. The camera will be left with a not-so-flattering shot of his emerging baldness.

At 15:45, Kovtun will repeat Lugovoy’s path: he will ask how to get to the toilet, spend two minutes there and reappear in the foyer. His silhouette is barely noticeable. What were they doing there? Did you wash your hands after preparing a polonium trap? Or were they preparing a crime in safe solitude, locked in one of the booths?

The study will show traces of alpha radiation in the second booth from the left - 2,600 pulses per second on the door, 200 on the tank button. Other traces of polonium will be found on and under the hand dryer - 5,000 pulses per second. This is, as scientists say, a “full scale deviation” - when the readings are so high that the instrument’s scale is not enough.

Dmitry Kovtun arrived at Millennium. Source: materials of the investigation into the Litvinenko case / PA Wire

The surveillance system records that there was a third guest at the meeting, who appeared at 15:59 in the 41st second - a sporty man in blue denim jacket with a brown collar. As he appears at the edge of the blurry frame, he is talking on the phone. This is Litvinenko. He calls Lugovoi to tell him that he has arrived. Further events unfold outside the camera's field of view. However, we know an important detail: Litvinenko did not go to the toilet. He was not the source of infection. It was his former Russian colleagues - and now, it turns out, his killers - who brought poison to London for the second attempt on Litvinenko.

Hotel. Radiation. Number 382

The Soviet Union had a long tradition of eliminating enemies. Victims included Leon Trotsky (with an ice pick in his head), Ukrainian nationalists (poison, exploding pies) and Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov (killed with a ricin capsule and an umbrella injection on Waterloo Bridge in London). And that is not all. These murders were demonstrative, they were committed for edification - although the KGB did not leave traces, no matter how carefully they looked for them. The justification was the ethics of Leninism: violence was considered necessary to defend the Bolshevik revolution, a noble experiment.

Under Boris Yeltsin, exotic killings stopped. The Moscow secret poison laboratory, founded under Lenin in 1917, was closed. However, in the 2000s, as Putin took control of the Kremlin, these Soviet-style operations quietly resumed. Those who criticized the new Russian President, had an amazing habit of, let’s say, dying. Putin reoriented the country in the direction of increasingly harsh authoritarianism, and most pockets of opposition activity and freethinking were extinguished. The president's associates in the KGB, previously subordinate to communist party, now they themselves are in power.

The killings of journalists and human rights activists could no longer be explained in terms of defending socialism. Rather, the state has now become synonymous with something else - the personal financial interests of Putin and his friends.

Back in the 1990s, as an FSB officer, Litvinenko was deeply shocked by how deeply organized crime had penetrated into Russian authorities security. From his point of view, criminal ideology replaced communist ideology. He was the first to characterize Putin's Russia as a mafia state, where the government, organized crime and intelligence services are virtually indistinguishable from each other.

Litvinenko had excellent powers of observation, honed during his service in the FSB, where his duties were akin to the work of a detective. Training in this skill was part of basic training. Ability to describe “bad guys”: height, build, hair color, distinctive features, clothes. Decorations. Approximate age. Smokes or not. And, of course, the ability to eavesdrop and remember their conversations: from important things like admitting guilt to small, insignificant details. For example, who offered whom a cup of tea.

When Scotland Yard inspector Brent Hyatt questioned Litvinenko, the retired Russian spy provided him with a full - and quite impressive - account of the meeting with Lugovoi and Kovtun at the Pine Bar. Litvinenko said that Lugovoy approached him in the foyer on the left side and invited him to follow him: “Come on, we’re sitting there.” He followed Lugovoi into the bar; he had already ordered drinks. Lugovoy sat with his back to the wall, Litvinenko sat on the chair opposite, diagonally. There were glasses on the table, but no bottles. And also “cups and a teapot.”

As Lugovoi was well aware, Litvinenko did not drink alcohol. Moreover, he was in financial difficulties and would never spend his own money in the bar of a prestigious hotel. Bartender Norberto Andrade approached Litvinenko from behind and asked: “Would you like anything?” Lugovoi repeated his question: “Do you want anything?” Litvinenko replied: “No.”

Litvinenko told Hyatt: “He [Lugovoy] said: “OK, okay, we’re leaving soon anyway, there’s still a little left in the kettle if you want.” Then the waiter left, or Andrei asked for a clean cup, and he brought it. When the waiter left , I took this cup and poured tea into it, although there was very little left in the teapot, maybe 50 grams.

Litvinenko claimed that he did not finish his cup. “I took a few sips, but it was green tea without sugar, and cold. For some reason I didn’t like it, but it’s not surprising - almost cold tea without sugar... And I didn’t drink any more. I took three or four sips in total.”

Hyatt: Was the kettle already on the table?

Litvinenko: Yes.

Hyatt: How many cups were on the table when you entered?

Litvinenko: Three or four.

Hyatt: Did Andrey drink from the same teapot in your presence?

Litvinenko: No.

Litvinenko: Then he said that Vadim (Kovtun) would come up now... or Vadim, or Volodya, I don’t remember. I saw him for the second time in my life.

Hyatt: What happened next?

Litvinenko: Then Volodya [Kovtun] also sat down at the table on my side, opposite Andrey.

They discussed a meeting scheduled for the next day at the office of a private security company Global Risk. Over the previous months, Litvinenko had been trying to supplement his £2,000 salary from MI6 with other earnings. He compiled detailed analytical notes for companies planning investments in Russia. According to Litvinenko, there were a lot of people in the bar. He felt a strong antipathy towards Kovtun. This was their second meeting. Something is wrong with him, Litvinenko thought - as if something was tormenting him from the inside.

Litvinenko: Volodya [Kovtun] was - seemed - very depressed, as if he had a bad hangover. He apologized. He said that he had not slept all night, had just flown in from Hamburg, was very tired and could no longer stand on his feet. But it seems to me that he is either an alcoholic or a drug addict. A very unpleasant guy.

Hyatt: This Volodya, how did he appear at the table? Andrey contacted him and invited him to join you, or was there already some kind of agreement that he would come?

Litvinenko: No... He [Kovtun], it seems to me, knew in advance. It is even possible that they were sitting together before I arrived, and then he went up to his room.

Hyatt: Let's go back to the moment when you drank some tea. You didn't order drinks from the waiter. It was mentioned that there was tea left in the kettle. How persistently did Andrey offer you tea? Or was he indifferent? Did he say, “Come on, have a little drink,” or did he not attach any importance to it?

Litvinenko: He said something like this: “Order yourself something if you want, but we're leaving soon. Or, if you want some tea, there’s some tea left in the kettle, you can drink it.”

I could have ordered something myself, but he presented it as if it wasn’t worth ordering anything. I don’t like being paid for, but this hotel is so expensive... I just don’t have the money to pay for drinks in a bar like this.”

Hyatt: Did you drink tea in Volodya's presence?

Litvinenko: No, I only drank tea when Andrey was sitting opposite me. I didn’t drink anything in Volodya’s presence... I didn’t like the tea.

Hyatt: And after you drank tea from this teapot, did Andrei or Volodya drink from it?

Litvinenko: Absolutely not. Later, when I was already leaving the hotel, it seemed to me that something was wrong. I felt it all the time. I knew that they wanted to kill me.

There is no evidence that would allow us to say who exactly - Kovtun, formerly a restaurant in Hamburg, or Lugovoy - poured polonium into the kettle. According to Litvinenko, this was absolutely a group crime. Lugovoi would later state that he did not remember what exactly he ordered at Pine Bar. And that it was Litvinenko who insisted on the meeting, but he had to give in, despite hesitation.

The police managed to obtain the bill paid by Lugovoi at the bar. The order was as follows: three pots of tea, three Gordon's gins, three tonics, one champagne cocktail, one Romeo y Julieta No 1 cigar. The tea cost £11.25, the total bill was 70.60. Lugovoi killed in casual style .

By this point, Lugovoi and Kovtun should have already come to the conclusion that the poisoning operation was a success. Litvinenko drank green tea. Not too much, I must admit. But he drank. The question is, is it enough? The meeting lasted 20 minutes. Lugovoi kept looking at his watch. He said that he was waiting for his wife. She appeared in the foyer and, as if on cue, waved her hand and silently called: “Let's go, let's go!” Lugovoi stood up to greet her, leaving Litvinenko and Kovtun at the table.

Then there was the final scene, which was hard to wrap my head around. According to Litvinenko, Lugovoi returned to the bar with his eight-year-old son Igor, introduced him and said: “This is Uncle Sasha, shake his hand.”

Igor was an obedient boy. He shook Litvinenko’s hand, which was emitting deadly radiation. When police examined Litvinenko's jacket, the sleeve was found to be heavily stained - he was holding a cup right hand. The company left the bar. Lugovoi's family went to the match with Sokolenko. Kovtun refused, citing the fact that he was tired and really wanted to sleep.

Forensic experts carefully examine the entire bar, tables, and dishes. 100 teapots, cups, spoons, saucers, milk jugs. The teapot from which Litvinenko drank was not difficult to find - with an indicator of 100,000 becquerels per cubic centimeter. The highest level of contamination was recorded at the spout (the kettle ended up in the dishwasher and was subsequently served to random customers). On the table surface the value was 20,000 becquerels per cubic centimeter. Half of this dose is enough to kill a person if ingested.

Polonium spread through the hotel like swamp gas, spreading like fog. It was found in the dishwasher, on the floor, on the cash register drawer, and on the handle of a coffee strainer. His traces were left on the Matrini and Tia Maria bottles on the bar shelf, on the ice cream scoop, on the cutting board. Of course, where the three Russians were sitting - and on a stool by the piano. Whoever sent Lugovoy and Kovtun to London must have been well aware of the dangers of such an operation for others. But obviously he didn't care at all.

However, the most important evidence was found several floors above the Pine Bar - in room 382, where Kovtun lived. When experts disassembled the bathroom sink, they found crushed clumps of some kind of debris stuck in the drain pipe filter. It turned out that the garbage contained 390,000 becquerels of polonium. Only polonium itself could produce such a high level of infection.

Having poured poison into the teapot for Litvinenko, Kovtun went up to his room. In the bathroom, he poured the remains of the liquid weapon into the sink. No one except him, Lugovoy and Sokolenko had access to this room. The police concluded that Kovtun had used the murder weapon and then disposed of it. This was deliberate destruction of evidence.

Scientific data is objective, unambiguous and devastatingly eloquent. They have the simplicity of an undeniable fact. Returning to Moscow, Kovtun will give a whole series of interviews in which he will again and again declare his innocence. However, he will never be able to explain the presence of polonium in his room.

Did you have Russian operation to eliminate Litvinenko, the code name, and what it is, is still unknown to us. In the end, it can be considered successful. Exactly six years have passed since Litvinenko moved to the UK: November 1, 2000. He is already dying, but does not know it yet. The substance that killed him was chosen because the killers believed it could not be traced. The plan worked. From that moment on, no one and nothing - not even an entire symposium of the most talented doctors in the world - could save him.

Hospital. MI6. President of Russia

Seventeen days later, Litvinenko lies terminally ill in hospital, his case a mystery to the entire medical staff. Eventually, doctors decide that the patient has thallium poisoning. At this moment, representatives of Scotland Yard appear at the clinic.

The picture that appeared before the English police was discouraging. Poisoned Russian with meager vocabulary, a twisted tale of conspiracy and mysterious guests from Moscow, many potential crime scenes. Two detectives from the City Special Unit, Inspector Brent Hyatt and Detective Sergeant Chris Hoare, spoke to Litvinenko in the intensive care ward on the 16th floor of University College Hospital. He was registered under his English pseudonym Edwin Redwald Carter. In the investigation, Litvinenko appears as an “important witness”. A total of 18 interviews were conducted, for a total of eight hours and 57 minutes. They lasted three days, from the early morning of November 18th until about nine o'clock in the evening of the 20th.

Transcripts of these interviews were kept in Scotland Yard's files on the Litvinenko case for eight and a half years under the heading of secrecy. They became available in 2015; this is an incredible document. In fact, this is a one-of-a-kind testimony taken from a ghost. In them, Litvinenko tries with all his might to solve a chilling murder - his own murder.

Litvinenko was himself an experienced detective. He knew how the investigation works, he was very pedantic, he always carefully collected materials and filed them in folders. In conversations with the police, he dispassionately presents facts pointing to those who could poison him. He admits: "I can't directly accuse these people because I don't have evidence."

Litvinenko is an ideal witness - he gives excellent descriptions, remembers details. He creates a list of suspects. There are three names in it: Italian Mario Scaramella, business partner Andrei Lugovoi and Lugovoi’s unpleasant comrade, whose name Litvinenko constantly tries to remember, calling him either Volodya or Vadim.

Hyatt begins recording at eight minutes past midnight on November 18th. He introduces himself and introduces his colleague, Sergeant Hoare. Litvinenko gives his name and address.

Hoare says, “Thank you very much, Edwin. Edwin, we are investigating a claim that someone poisoned you in an attempt to kill you.” Hoare reports that doctors believe Edwin is poisoned by a "large dose of thallium" and that this is "the cause of his illness."

He continues, “Can I ask you to tell me what you think happened and why?”

Doctors told Hoare that Litvinenko spoke English well, but this turned out to be an exaggeration. After the first conversation, the police will involve an interpreter in the case.

Litvinenko still has enough strength to talk in detail about his work in the FSB and the increasingly worsening conflict with this organization. He talks about " good relations” with Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, another Putin enemy, and how she fears for her life. In the spring of 2006, they met for brunch at Cafe Nero in London. She said: “Alexander, I’m very afraid.” Every time Politkovskaya says goodbye to her daughter and son, she looks at them “as if it was the last time.” He persuaded her to leave Russia as soon as possible - her parents were getting old, she needed to think about the children. In October 2006, Politkovskaya was shot at the entrance to her house in Moscow.

Politkovskaya's death "deeply shocked" Litvinenko. “I’ve lost a lot of friends,” he tells the English detectives, adding that human life is worthless in Russia. He also recalls a speech he gave a month earlier at London's Frontline Club, in which he publicly accused Putin of orchestrating Politkovskaya's murder.

Periodically, the recording is interrupted: the tape runs out, nurses enter the room with medications, Litvinenko, suffering from diarrhea, is forced to go to the toilet. Despite everything, he gathers his strength and continues. “Talking to you is very important for my business,” he tells Hyatt.

Two Russians are the focus of suspicion. Litvinenko recalls the meeting at the Millennium. He admits that he has never been to this hotel before; I had to look for the place on the map. Insists that this " special information“must remain secret, it cannot be made public - and even his wife Marina Litvinenko asks not to say anything. “These people are an interesting business, of course, very interesting,” he mutters.

But time is running out, and Litvinenko gathers all his strength to concentrate and solve the riddle. Here is what is presented in the transcript:

Carter[repeating Litvinenko's barely audible words loudly and clearly]: Only these three could have poisoned me.

Hyatt: These three.

Carter: Mario, Vadim [Kovtun] and Andrey.

At times it seems that there are not two, but three investigators working on the case: Hyatt, Hoare and Litvinenko himself, the meticulous ex-detective. After four or five hours of conversation, the story gradually becomes clearer. New forces are joining the investigation. The information is passed on to SO15, Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism unit, led by Detective Clive Timmons.

Litvinenko reports that he keeps the most important papers at home, on the bottom shelf of the cupboard. The materials include key information about Putin and his circle, gleaned from newspapers and other sources, as well as information about Russian criminal groups. He gives the police the password to e-mail and bank account number. He says that the receipts for his two Orange SIM cards, bought for £20 each from a shop on Bond Street, are kept in a black leather wallet on his bedside table. Litvinenko explains that he gave one of the cards to Lugovoy; they used secret numbers to communicate. The last thing he gives to the detectives is his diary.

In an effort to help the investigation, Litvinenko calls his wife and asks to find a photograph of Lugovoy at home. Hyatt interrupts the recording - it is necessary to take the photograph, since Lugovoi has become the main suspect. This is how Litvinenko describes him: “Andrey is an absolutely European type, he even looks a little like me. Same guy... I'm 177 cm or 178 cm tall, so he's probably 176 cm. He's two years younger than me, blonde hair." He has a small, “almost invisible” bald spot on the top of his head.

Transcript of the recording:

Hyatt: Edwin, do you consider Andrey your friend or business colleague? How would you describe your relationship with Andrey?

Carter:...he's not my friend. Just a business partner.

At the end of the second day of the conversation, on November 19, Litvinenko recalls being driven home by his friend, Chechen Akhmed Zakayev: “The paradox is that I felt great, but suddenly I had the feeling that something was going to happen soon. Maybe it's subconscious." The detectives turn off the recording. The tape is over, it contains detailed and reliable information about the events that preceded the poisoning of Litvinenko. With one exception: he did not say a word about his secret life and work for British intelligence. Only the next day he would talk about a meeting with his MI6 handler, “Martin,” which took place on October 31 in the basement cafe of the Waterstone bookshop in Piccadilly. Litvinenko speaks sparingly and clearly reluctantly about working undercover.

Carter: On October 31, at about four in the evening, I had an appointment with someone I don't really want to talk about because I have some obligations. You can contact him at this long distance number that I gave you.

Hyatt: Have you met this man, Edwin?

Carter: Yes.

Hyatt: Edwin, it is imperative that you tell us who this person is.

Carter: Call him, he will tell you himself.

The interview ends abruptly at 5:16 p.m. Hyatt dials the number, gets through to "Martin" and tells him that Litvinenko is seriously ill and in hospital, the victim of an apparent poisoning orchestrated by two mysterious Russians.

It appears that this is the first time MI6 - an organization renowned for its professionalism - has heard of Litvinenko's condition. He was, of course, not a full-time employee. However, he was paid a salary as an informant, he had an encrypted mobile phone and a passport provided by MI6. The agency did not appear to believe Litvinenko was in any danger - despite countless threatening calls from Moscow and a Molotov cocktail thrown at his north London home in 2004.

MI6's response is uncertain. The British government still refuses to make the relevant documents public. However, one can imagine this panic and shame. All agency is able complete crisis and stupor. The records indicate that after telephone conversation with Hyatt, “Martin” rushed to the hospital. He remained with the poisoned agent until 7:15 p.m. After his departure, the recording of the conversation with the police resumes, the last remarks concern threats against Litvinenko from the Kremlin and its emissaries. At the end, the detective asks what else Litvinenko would like to add.

Hoare: Who else do you think could cause you this kind of harm?

Carter: I don’t doubt for a minute who wanted this, I have repeatedly received threats from these people. This was done... I have no doubt that this was the work of Russian intelligence. I know perfectly well how the system works. The order to kill a citizen of another country on its territory, especially if the case concerns Great Britain, could only be given by one person.

Hyatt: Would you like to say his name, sir? Edwin?

Carter: This man is the president Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. And if... You, of course, understand that as long as he remains president, you cannot blame him for giving such an order, simply because he is the president of a huge country, stuffed with nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons. But I have no doubt that as soon as the power in Russia changes, or as soon as the head of Russian intelligence goes over to the side of the West, he will confirm my words. He will say that I was poisoned by Russian intelligence agents on Putin's orders.

Aldermaston. Diagnosis. Death

Litvinenko's condition rapidly deteriorated. November 20, his day last conversation with the police, doctors transfer Litvinenko to the intensive care unit. There it is easier to monitor his condition and intervene if the need arises. The heart rhythm has become irregular and vital organs are failing.

The doctors who treated Litvinenko were lost in a fog. His case was extremely complex; the symptoms did not coincide with the clinical picture of thallium poisoning. His bone marrow and intestines were affected, which fit into the version about thallium. But the main symptom was missing: peripheral neuropathy, pain or numbness in the fingers and toes. “It all looked extremely mysterious,” admitted one of the doctors.

Those close to Litvinenko, however, had to gradually come to terms with the idea that he was unlikely to survive.

The Kremlin would later accuse Litvinenko's friend Alex Goldfarb and Boris Berezovsky of cynically using his death to discredit Putin. In fact, Litvinenko was quite clear: according to the Scotland Yard transcripts, he held Putin personally responsible for his poisoning. And he wanted the world to know about it.

Litvinenko's lawyer George Menzies began drawing up a statement on behalf of the victim. He later claimed that the main ideas in it actually belonged to Litvinenko himself. “I tried as best I could, in the most personal terms, to convey what I sincerely believe were Sasha’s ideas and feelings,” he said. The main themes of the statement - Litvinenko's pride in his British citizenship, his love for his wife and the beliefs that led to his illness - reflect his client's thoughts, Menzies said.

Goldfarb and Menzies brought the draft application to the hospital and showed it to Marina. She reacted negatively. She still believed that her husband could overcome the disease, and what to write last will means giving up and losing hope. They answered pragmatically: “Better now than later.”

Menzies turned to Tim Bell, president of London PR firm Bell Pottinger, for advice. This company has worked with Berezovsky since 2002, providing legal assistance to the exiled oligarch, and also collaborated with the Litvinenko family. Bell called the lyrics too dark and said they sounded like "a deathbed speech." “I didn’t think it was right to publish such a statement, I hoped and believed that Sasha would survive,” Bell later admitted.

In the intensive care ward, Goldfarb read out sheet A4 to Litvinenko himself, translating the text from English into Russian. At one point, Goldfarb made a motion with his hands, depicting an angel flapping his wings in flight. Litvinenko was ready to sign every word: “This is exactly what I feel.” He signed and dated it. November 21, a stroke ending in a black curl.

In the statement former boss Litvinenko was accused by the FSB of murdering him: “You may be able to silence one person, but the chorus of protesting voices will echo throughout the world, Mr. Putin, and will ring in your ears until the end of your days.”

Television and the press crowded the hospital gates in anxious anticipation.

Sixteen floors above, Litvinenko asked Goldfarb if he had made the news. Of course, he got in, but not much was known about him - only that he was a well-known critic of Putin, and now he was hopelessly ill. Goldfarb said, “Sasha, if you want people to really understand what’s going on, you need to take a photo.” Marina was against it, she believed that this was an invasion of privacy. But Litvinenko agreed: “If you think it’s necessary, go ahead.”

Goldfarb called Bell Pottinger and spoke with Jennifer Morgan, Bell's assistant. She, in turn, called her friend photographer Natasha Waitz. Waitz arrived at the clinic and police escorted her to the 16th floor. The photographer spent only a few minutes with Litvinenko. He pulled the collar of his green hospital shirt to the side to reveal the ECG sensors strapped to his chest. Waitz took several portrait photographs of Litvinenko: bald, gaunt but not broken, with cornflower blue eyes looking straight into the camera lens. This image became inseparable from his history and went around the whole world.

The next day - Wednesday, November 22 - Litvinenko's doctors abandoned their original diagnosis. “We do not believe that this person was poisoned by inorganic thallium,” their notes read.

By noon, a high-level meeting was convened at the city police counter-terrorism department. It involved SO15 detectives along with Timmons, medics, an expert from the agency dealing with nuclear weapons, representatives from the Forensic Science Service and Dr Nick Ghent from the Porton Down Military Science Establishment. The latest urine test showed the presence of a new radioactive substance - the isotope polonium-210. But this was considered an error that could be explained by the chemical composition of the plastic container for storing the sample.

According to Timmons, experts had five versions about the reasons for the mysterious poisoning of Litvinenko. Most of them were understandable only to a narrow circle of initiates. Experts decided to send a liter of the victim's urine to Aldermaston (where the British Atomic Weapons Organization - AEW) is located.

Litvinenko was already losing consciousness in his room. Russian-German film director Andrei Nekrasov, who had previously interviewed Litvinenko several times, came to see him. He recorded a video, but Marina set the condition that it would be published only with her permission. Litvinenko lies on the bed, a defeated spirit, with darkness gathering around him. A tube reaches to the nostrils, the cheeks are sunken, the eyes are barely open. The pale afternoon light falls on his face.

“He was conscious, but completely weak,” Marina recalls. “I sat with him almost all day, just to get him to calm down and relax a little.” At eight o'clock Marina had to leave. She stood up and told her husband: “Sasha, unfortunately, I have to go.”

She adds: "He smiled so sadly... And I felt very guilty that I was leaving him." I said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back tomorrow and everything will be fine.”

Litvinenko whispered: “I love you so much.”

At midnight the hospital called and said that Litvinenko had suffered cardiac arrest, twice. Doctors managed to resuscitate the patient. Marina returned to the clinic, Zakaev gave her a ride. Her husband was unconscious and connected to a life support machine. On November 23, she spent the entire day at his bedside. Litvinenko was in a medically induced coma. In the evening she returned home to Muswell Hill. An hour later the phone rang again. She was asked to urgently return to the hospital.

For the third time, Litvinenko's heart stopped at 20:15. Duty doctor James Down attempted to resuscitate him but was pronounced dead at 9:21 p.m. When Marina and Anatoly (Litvinenko’s son - MZ) arrived at the hospital, they were taken not to the ward, but to the next room. After 10-15 minutes the doctor told them that Litvinenko was dead. “Do you want to see Sasha?” - he asked Marina. “Of course,” she replied.

For the first time in several days, Marina was allowed to touch and kiss her husband. Anatoly ran out of the room a few seconds later.

Six hours before Litvinenko's death, at approximately three o'clock in the afternoon, Timmons received a call from Aldermaston. They confirmed that Litvinenko was, as Timmons later put it, “terribly contaminated” with radioactive polonium.

A public inquest into the death of Alexander Litvinenko in London has concluded that Vladimir Putin was responsible for his murder. Litvinenko died in a London hospital almost 10 years ago. Who was he and why are the circumstances of his death still of such interest?

Alexander Litvinenko died at University College London Hospital on November 23, 2006, aged 43. His death led to a cooling of relations between Moscow and London.

Litvinenko worked for almost 10 years in the Soviet KGB and then in the Russian FSB, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. However, he became a critic Russian authorities and fled to the UK in 2000, fearing for his safety. Shortly before his death, he received British citizenship.

He was poisoned by the radioactive substance polonium-210, taking a dose of it in tea in the bar of London's Millennium Hotel on November 1, 2006. As Sir Robert Owen, who headed the public inquiry, said, “he did not do this by accident or with the intention of committing suicide. He was deliberately poisoned."

After the poisoning, it turned out that Litvinenko collaborated with the British intelligence service MI6 and received fees for this.

Meeting for tea

During the hearings at the High Court in London, it was said that Alexander Litvinenko was investigating connections between the Russian mafia and Spain and was planning to fly there with another former FSB officer and his longtime acquaintance, Andrei Lugovoi. Lugovoi later became the main suspect in the Litvinenko murder case.

On November 1, Litvinenko met with Lugovoi and Kovtun in the bar of the Millennium Hotel. Photo: Reuters

They met in central London at the Millennium Hotel on November 1, 2006 over a cup of tea. Another person was present at the meeting, businessman Dmitry Kovtun.

Soon after, Litvinenko began to feel unwell and vomited throughout the night. Three days later he was taken to Barnet Hospital in north London with signs of food poisoning. There his condition began to rapidly deteriorate and cause increasing concern.

On November 11, in a conversation with a correspondent of the BBC Russian Service, Litvinenko said that he was in “serious condition after severe poisoning.”

During this interview, Litvinenko said that he was investigating the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead a month earlier in the entrance of her Moscow home.

On 17 November, after his condition deteriorated further, Litvinenko was transferred to University College Hospital in central London

He died six days later.

His widow Marina Litvinenko said Alexander blamed the Kremlin for his death, holding Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for “everything that happened to him.”

Russian authorities deny all allegations of involvement in Litvinenko's death.

The path from the KGB to dissidents

Alexander Litvinenko was born in Voronezh in 1962, was called up for military service in the internal troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1980 and in 1988 became an employee of the third military counterintelligence directorate of the KGB of the USSR.

After the collapse of the USSR he became an employee Federal service security of Russia and specialized in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.

In the summer of 1998, the main Russian intelligence service was headed by Vladimir Putin. It is believed that they disagreed when Litvinenko began to expose corruption in the ranks of the FSB.

In 1998, Alexander Litvinenko was arrested on charges of abuse of power. This happened after he and several colleagues said during a press conference that in 1997 they received an order to kill Boris Berezovsky.

Nine months later, Litvinenko was released from Lefortovo and the charges were dropped, but almost immediately new charges were brought against him.

After leaving the FSB, Litvinenko wrote a book, “The FSB Is Blowing Up Russia,” in which he accused the special services of involvement in the bombings of houses in Moscow and other cities in the fall of 1999.

Chechen separatists were then named as the culprits. In his book, Litvinenko wrote that the house explosions were needed by the Russian authorities as a pretext for starting the second Chechen war.

In 2000, Alexander Litvinenko fled to the UK and requested political asylum there, which he was granted. In October 2006, he received British citizenship.

In 2000, Alexander Litvinenko fled to the UK and approached the British authorities with a request for political asylum. Photo from the family archive

Polonium trail

After Litvinenko’s death, suspicion primarily fell on his acquaintances Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, with whom he drank tea in the bar of the Millennium Hotel.

According to investigators, the first poisoning attempt was made a month earlier, in October, during a meeting between Litvinenko, Lugovoy and Kovtun at the office of a private firm in London's Mayfair.

Forensic pathologist Dr Nathaniel Carey, who performed the autopsy on Litvinenko's body, called it "the most dangerous autopsy ever carried out in the Western world". He and his colleagues worked in protective suits that completely covered the body; oxygen was supplied into the suit through a tube.

The results of the autopsy showed that the death of Alexander Litvinenko was caused by poisoning with the radioactive substance polonium-210.

What followed was an unusual police operation to search for traces of polonium throughout London. Radioactive traces were found, in particular, at the Millennium Hotel, the Abracadabra men's club and at the Emirates football stadium, where Lugovoi watched the match between London's Arsenal and CSKA.

The investigation established that on the day of the poisoning Litvinenko also met with Italian Mario Scaramella, who is called a security expert. The meeting took place at the Itsu sushi cafe in Piccadilly; on it Scaramella, as he later said, gave Litvinenko documents relating to the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.

In addition, traces of polonium-210 were found on two planes at Heathrow Airport, at the British Embassy in Moscow and in an apartment in Hamburg that was associated with Dmitry Kovtun.

About 700 people were tested for radioactive poisoning; no serious signs of poisoning were found in any of them.

Investigation stages

The Scotland Yard investigation took two months; its findings were passed on to the head of the prosecution service, Sir Ken Macdonald. In May 2007, he recommended that Andrei Lugovoi be charged with murder.

Both Lugovoi and Kovtun deny involvement in Litvinenko's death.

During a press conference in Moscow, Lugovoi insisted on his own innocence and said that Litvinenko was an agent of the British intelligence services, which could have killed him.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office said Lugovoi cannot and will not be extradited to Britain because the Constitution prohibits the extradition of Russian citizens.

Relations between the two countries further deteriorated in July 2007, when four British embassy staff in Moscow and four Russian diplomat from the embassy in London.

The UK stopped cooperating with Russian intelligence services - limited contacts were resumed only during the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.

Sir Robert Owen, the coroner presiding over Litvinenko's death, proposed holding a public inquest, but the British government initially rejected the idea.

An inquest is not a judicial process. Its goal is to fully clarify the circumstances of what happened. In this case, no formal charges are brought forward, and the participants in the process are only “interested parties.”

A public inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Alexander Litvinenko opened at the High Court in London in January 2015. Sir Robert Owen presided over it. On January 21, 2016, he presented the results of this inquiry.

Key dates

November 23, 2006 - Alexander Litvinenko dies three weeks after meeting Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun in London
November 24, 2006 - the cause of death was named polonium-210 poisoning
May 22, 2007 - the head of the British prosecution service recommended that Andrei Lugovoy be charged with the murder of Alexander Litvinenko
May 31, 2007 - Lugovoi denies any connection with Litvinenko's death and insists that he was an agent of the British intelligence services
July 5, 2007 - Russia refuses to extradite Lugovoi, citing the country's Constitution
May-June 2013 - the Litvinenko inquest is postponed as the coroner decides on the preference for public hearings, since in this case some evidence may be kept secret
July 2013 - British authorities opposed holding public hearings. Marina Litvinenko goes to the High Court to get a hearing
July 2014 - Home Office announced that public hearings would be held in the Litvinenko case
January 2015 - start of hearings in the High Court of London


Alexander Litvinenko
Occupation:	Lieutenant Colonel of State Security, in 1988-1999 - KGB - FSB officer. Critic of the Russian authorities and personally of V.V. Putin
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:	Voronezh
Citizenship:	USSR, Russian Federation

Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko- Lieutenant Colonel of State Security, in 1988-1999 - KGB - FSB officer. Critic of the Russian authorities and personally of V.V. Putin.

Biography

Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was born on December 4, 1962 in Voronezh. He studied at school in Nalchik, and immediately after graduation he joined the army. In 1985, he completed his studies at the Kirov Ministry of Internal Affairs School, where during his studies he did not show his best side - he skipped classes and abused alcohol.

Work and career

In 1988, he completed KGB courses and began working for the state security service; in 1991, he became an FSB employee in the fight against terrorism and organized crime. He rose to the rank of Veteran of the MUR.

In 1994, he met Berezovsky and led his case regarding the assassination attempt.

In 1997, he was demoted after inappropriate behavior in a Moscow restaurant, but quickly returned to his position and became a senior operational officer. In 1998, he was again seen drunk and very soon he was fired from the FSB.

Charges and arrests

In March 1999, he was arrested for abuse of power, acquitted, but still placed in pre-trial detention because of the second case.

In 2000, the case was closed and they were about to release him, but a third case was immediately opened. Litvinenko was released on his own recognizance, but he fled to the UK. In 2002, he was tried in absentia in Russia for the fourth time for abuse of office, for the theft of explosives, illegal storage and acquisition of weapons and ammunition.

In May 2011, the UK granted Litvinenko political asylum. Alexander lived in London with funds given to him by Boris Berezovsky’s foundation, and he also worked as a consultant and intermediary for foreigners with officials in Russia.

In October 2003, Litvinenkov met with FSB officers, who informed him of the plan to eliminate Putin. Litvinenko wrote to his father about this meeting, and the employees were arrested.

Revelations and statements in the media

In 2005, Litvinenko made a sensational statement: the leaders of Al-Qaeda, a terrorist group, were trained at the FSB, and on February 7, 2006, he claimed that the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper, scandalous at that time, also belonged to the idea of the FSB.

In 2006, he made a loud statement about Putin’s pedophilia, which had been going on since 1984. After such words, Litvinenko suspected that an assassination attempt would be prepared on his life.

In 2007, Berezovsky said that Litvinenko told him about a murder being planned against him because of an investigation into Putin’s acquisition of real estate in Spain. On October 12, 2006, Litvinenko received British citizenship and new passport in the name of Edwin Carter. A week later, at a round table dedicated to the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Litvinenko made a statement that Putin transmitted threats to Politkovskaya through Khakamada. Khakamada called these words nonsense. On November 1, 2006, Litvinenko met with Italian journalist Mario Scaramella to discuss the murder of Politkovskaya, and after this meeting he went to see his friend Andrei Lugovoy, a former FSB officer and former security guard for Berezovsky.

Poisoning and death

That same evening, Litvinenko’s health began to deteriorate sharply - at first he thought it was poisoning and washed his stomach, after which he sought medical help and was taken to the hospital. Doctors suspected he was poisoned with thallium poison, which primarily affects nervous system and ends in death.

On November 11, all the media trumpeted the poisoning of Litvinenko, 6 days later he was transferred to a London hospital, and 2 days later it was announced that Litvinenko was poisoned with thallium. After another 2 days, thallium was removed and radiation poisoning was assumed. Alexander had a bone marrow disorder and his immune system was disintegrating before his eyes.

On November 22, Litvinenko converted to Islam right in his hospital room, and a day later he died of acute heart failure. Found in his body traces of polonium, and They did not open the body for a long time due to fear of radiation.

The police put forward the theory that Litvinenko was poisoned by Lugovoy, and some claimed that Berezovsky did it. The latest information about the investigation appeared just recently - in January 2016, it was revealed that the FSB was behind the murder of Litvinenko, the operation was carried out with the approval of Nikolai Patrushev and Vladimir Putin.

Born in 1962 in Voronezh. Graduated in 1980 high school, after which he served in the ranks of the Soviet army.

In 1988, Alexander Litvinenko began working in the counterintelligence agencies of the KGB of the USSR. Since 1991, he has been an employee of the central office of the MB-FSK-FSB of Russia. Specialization: fight against terrorism and organized crime. For conducting joint operations with the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department to search for and apprehend especially dangerous criminals, Litvinenko received the title “Veteran of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department.”

Alexander Litvinenko - participant in hostilities in many so-called. hot spots of the former USSR and Russia. Candidate for Master of Sports in modern pentathlon. He had the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1997, he was transferred to the most secret division of the FSB of the Russian Federation - the Directorate for the Development of Criminal Organizations (URPO) - to the position of senior operational officer, deputy head of the 7th department.

On November 18, 1998, Litvinenko, together with several colleagues - employees of the URPO, held a press conference in Moscow, at which they told reporters that in November 1997, the leaders of the URPO, Major General Evgeny Khokholkov and Captain 1st Rank Alexander Kamyshnikov, gave them a verbal order to kill Boris Berezovsky - at that time Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. Litvinenko and his colleagues refused to carry out the illegal order and wrote official reports, on the basis of which the Main Military Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal case, after which their superiors began to threaten them with physical violence because Litvinenko and his colleagues did not want to “kill a Jew who stole half the country.” Two weeks later, an assassination attempt was made on Litvinenko near his home.

In March 1999, Alexander Litvinenko was arrested on charges of abuse of power and placed in Lefortovo. In November 1999, he was acquitted, but after the acquittal was read out to him, right in the courtroom, Litvinenko was again arrested by FSB officers and placed in the Butyrka prison pre-trial detention center for a second criminal case. In 2000, the second criminal case against him was dropped by the prosecutor's office for lack of evidence of a crime. On the same day, a third criminal case was launched against Litvinenko, and he himself was released on his own recognizance.

After threats from the FSB and investigators against his family, Alexander Litvinenko was forced to leave Russia illegally, and therefore a fourth criminal case was opened against him.

In May 2001, he received political asylum in the UK and has since lived with his family in London.

On April 23, 2002, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation sent a criminal case to court accusing Alexander Litvinenko of exceeding official powers (Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and theft explosives(Article 226 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

On May 28, 2002, the Naro-Fominsk Garrison Military Court began a trial in absentia of Litvinenko's case. On May 29, 2002, two of his former colleagues, Viktor Shebalin and Nikolai Borisov, were questioned as witnesses, who confirmed the prosecution’s arguments. Commenting on the testimony of the witnesses, lawyer Mikhail Marov said that, in his opinion, they cannot be considered credible. On June 13, 2002, the state prosecutor demanded that Litvinenko be sentenced to 5.5 years in prison with confiscation of property.

On June 21, 2002, Alexander Litvinenko distributed a letter through the media in which he addressed the court: “Your decision will not in any way affect my life, freedom or good name. Your sentence will not have any consequences for me... I am being tried for that I told the truth about the bombings of residential buildings in 1999... I am exercising my right to the last word to tell you: find me guilty. A guilty verdict coming from your court will be an honor for me, and an acquittal will be a shame" (Kommersant, June 22, 2002).

On June 25, 2002, the Naro-Fominsk Garrison Military Court, for the first time in post-Soviet history, issued a verdict in absentia, finding Litvinenko guilty of abuse of office and illegal acquisition of explosives. He was sentenced in absentia to three and a half years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of one year.

Alexander Litvinenko’s first book, “The FSB Blows Up Russia,” co-written with Yuri Felshtinsky, was published in New York in the fall of 2001. In it, a former FSB lieutenant colonel accuses Russia's main intelligence service of carrying out explosions of residential buildings in Moscow, Volgodonsk and preparing similar explosions in Ryazan in 1999. Based on the facts presented in the book, French documentarians made the film “Attempt on Russia.”

In 2002, A. Litvinenko’s second book was published - “LPG (Lubyansk criminal group)”, dedicated to the criminal activities of the FSB-KGB.

On November 1, 2006, Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned with an unknown poison (it was initially assumed that the cause of the poisoning could be radioactive thallium, but it later turned out that Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium-210). According to one version, the poisoning occurred in the London restaurant Itsu during a meeting with informant Mario Scaramella, who gave him documents with information about the killers of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in Moscow on October 7, 2006. According to another, Litvinenko was poisoned in one of the London hotels during a tea party with ex-FSB Colonel Andrei Lugovoi, former head of the security service of the ORT channel, involved in the so-called “Aeroflot case”.

Alexander Litvinenko's health condition continuously deteriorated and on November 17 he was hospitalized at University College Hospital in London, where he was under the supervision of leading British toxicologists. On November 20, 2006, Litvinenko was transferred to the intensive care unit of the hospital.

On November 18, 2006, the criminal case of the FSB poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko was transferred to the anti-terrorist unit of Scotland Yard (SO15, London's Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Command). In addition, information about poisoning former officer The FSB requested the US State Department.

Litvinenko himself stated that his poisoning was organized by Russian intelligence services. A similar opinion was expressed by the head of the Civil Liberties Foundation, Alexander Goldfarb (who at one time took Litvinenko to the UK), ex-KGB officer, famous defector Alexander Gordievsky and former deputy secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, businessman Boris Berezovsky. Most British media also expressed confidence in the involvement Russian intelligence services to the poisoning of A. Litvinenko.

In turn, the Service foreign intelligence(SVR) and other Russian officials denied these accusations. The head of the press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ivanov, said that after the liquidation Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera, intelligence does not engage in such operations.

On November 24, 2006, Alexander Litvinenko died in London's University College Hospital as a result of the consequences of poisoning with the radioactive element polonium-210.

was buried on December 7, 2006 in London at the Highgate Memorial Cemetery (here, in particular, is the grave of Karl Marx) according to Muslim rites. According to the testimony of the relatives and friends of the deceased, 10 days before his death, Alexander Litvinenko expressed a desire to convert to Islam. The Kavkaz Center news agency reported that immediately before his death, all Muslim rituals were performed over Alexander Litvinenko, and a specially invited mullah read Surah “Yasin” over the dying man. According to a friend of the deceased, Akhmed Zakaev, Litvinenko asked, when possible, to transport his remains to the Caucasus and bury them there in a real Muslim cemetery.

Alexander Litvinenko has a family left in London - his wife Marina and son Anatoly. The children of Alexander Litvinenko from his first marriage live in Russia - son Alexander and daughter Sonya.