Alexander Litvinenko: Russia responsible for assassination of ex-spy, European court rules

Russia was responsible for the killing of Alexander Litvinenko, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found.

“Russia was responsible for assassination of Aleksander Litvinenko in the UK,” the court said in a statement on its ruling.The 43-year-old, who had worked for the Russian security services before defecting to the UK, died after consuming tea laced with polonium-210 in London in 2006.

On his deathbed, Mr Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of the Russian president who had worked for both the FSB and KGB, accused Vladimir Putin of ordering his assassination.

A UK public inquiry conducted in 2016 concluded the killing was "probably approved" by President Putin- though Russia denies any involvement in his death.

It found ex-KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy and Russian businessman, Dmitry Kovtun, carried out the killing as part of an operation likely directed by the FSB, Russia’s Federal Security Service.

Litvinenko's widow, Marina, took the case against Russia to the ECHR, which on Tuesday agreed with the UK inquiry's conclusion. It ruled Russia was behind his assassination, which was carried out at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair.

"The Court found in particular there was a strong prima facie case that, in poisoning Mr Litvinenko, Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun had been acting as agents of the Russian State," the ECHR said.

“The Court found that there was no evidence that either man had had any personal reason to kill Mr Litvinenko and that, if acting on their own behalf, they would not have had access to the rare radioactive isotope used to poison him.”

It concluded Russia's failure to hit back at claims that it co-ordinated the attack further pointed towards the state's responsibility.

Both Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun have denied any involvement in the killing.

Brian Tarpey, a former British detective inspector who investigated the murder of Mr Litvinenko, told ITV News in 2017 that he believed he was also poisoned in an apparent attack ordered by the Kremlin.

He suspected Russian government officials spiked his tea during a trip to Moscow to question the main suspect in the killing, apparently to unsettle him and colleagues looking into the case. Tarpey and a colleague paid a visit to the prosecutor general’s office.

The Russians had allowed him to interview suspect Andrey Lugovoy - on the condition they made the recordings. But these tapes were later withheld from Scotland Yard.