Lugovoi has even gone so far as to blame British intelligence agents for the incident. Litvinenko fell ill after his tea was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 November 1 2006.
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It said his poisoners were former KGB bodyguard turned lawmaker Lugovoi and fellow Russian Dmitry Kovtun.
“Maybe this is a joke”, he said, adding that such a “quasi-inquiry” could only “add more poison to the atmosphere of our bilateral ties”.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said the Litvinenko investigation ceased being a criminal investigation and had transformed into a full-fledged political event previous year.
The report also names Russian politicians Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun as those who arranged the poisoning.
The Home Secretary presented the United Kingdom government’s response to the findings in a statement to the House of Commons, describing it as a “blatant and unacceptable” breach of global law.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said what it called Britain’s politicised, biased and opaque handling of the Litvinenko case had clouded relations. “The Minister said that this would further complicate bilateral relations, undermine trust, and damage Russia’s reputation internationally”, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Zhakarova adds “clearly the decision to suspend the coroner’s inquest and begin “public hearings” was politically motivated”.
The inquiry judge said that taken as a whole the open evidence that had been heard in court amounted to a “strong circumstantial case” that the Russian state was behind the assassination. The results of the inquiry published today are yet more proof of London’s anti-Russian stance, its blinkered thinking and … unwillingness to establish the true cause of Litvinenko’s death. He says there’s a “strong probability” that Russia’ FSB spy agency directed the killing and the operation was “probably approved” by President Vladimir Putin.
As a lawmaker, he is now immune from prosecution in Russian Federation. The inquiry identified Lugovoi and ex-KGB agent Dmitri Kovtun as the likely perpetrators of the poisoning.
Marina Litvinenko said Thursday outside the High Court in London she was “very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed, when he accused Mr. Putin, have been proved by an English court”.
The chair of the independent inquiry was certain Mr Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of radioactive polonium-210 at a London hotel.
A public inquiry into Litvinenko’s death says President Putin had “probably” personally authorised the 2006 killing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably approved” a 2006 intelligence operation with the intent to murder ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210, a British inquiry into the killing has found.
Mr Litvinenko was close to leading Russian dissidents and opponents of Putin and his administration, whom he had accused of collusion with organised crime, and had made highly personal allegations about the Kremlin chief.
Mr Litvinenko had fled Russian Federation in 2000 and was granted asylum in Britain, later becoming a British citizen and converting to Islam. The Kremlin had always denied the claim.
– Interpol has issued notices calling for their arrest, although Russian Federation refuses to extradite them.
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A British murder investigation points a finger of accusation toward Vladimir Putin…
