It said Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “probably approved” a murder committed in London nine years ago.
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The judge said he was sure Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun had placed the polonium 210 in the teapot at the Millennium Hotel’s Pine Bar on November 1, 2006.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin is accused of ordering that a former Russian intelligence officer be killed, according to a recent report presented to the U.K. Parliament.
He described at as “absolutely unacceptable” for the report to conclude the Russian state was involved in Mr Litvinenko’s death.
Singling out then-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev, alongside Mr Putin, Sir Robert wrote in the 300 page report: “Taking full account of all the evidence and analysis available to me I find that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin”.
He says Litvinenko was seen as having betrayed the FSB, and there is video evidence that Litvinenko was so hated in Russia that Russian soldiers used his face for target practice.
Russia’s ambassador to London has criticised Britain’s handling of the death of Mr Litvinenko. Litvinenko, who was reported to be on the payroll for MI6, blamed Putin for the assassination on his deathbed, shortly before succumbing to the effects of radiation poisoning.
Moscow has always strongly denied involvement in Litvinenko’s death, and Russian Federation refuses to extradite the two main suspects, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun.
Kremlin-critic Litvinenko, 44, was poisoned with a radioactive isotope slipped into his tea in a posh hotel in 2006. “Mr. Litvinenko made repeated highly personal attacks on President Putin culminating in the allegation of pedophillia in July 2006”.
It said: “We regret that the purely criminal case was politicised and overshadowed the general atmosphere of bilateral relations”.
And in his closing statement, the Litvinenko family’s lawyer, Ben Emmerson said that “no amount of synthetic defiance” from Putin could hide the truth revealed through the inquiry.
She called UK Prime Minister David Cameron to impose economic sanctions against Russian Federation. He says there’s a “strong probability” that the FSB directed the killing, and the operation was “probably approved” by Putin.
Litvinenko, who became a whistleblower of Moscow’s security services, fled Russian Federation to Britain with his wife and son in 2000.
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Litvinenko’s killing caused public outrage in Britain after radioactive traces were found at various sites around London.
