Alexander Litvinenko
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Who was Alexander Litvinenko?
Alexander Litvinenko (1962–2006) was a Russian security agent who investigated organized crime as a member of the KGB and its successor, the FSB. In 1998, he publicly accused FSB officials of corruption, extortion, and murder, claiming he had been ordered to assassinate oligarch Boris Berezovsky.
After fleeing to London in 2000 and gaining British citizenship, Litvinenko became seriously ill in November 2006 while investigating the assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. He died from polonium-210 poisoning and accused Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials of ordering it. In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Litvinenko "was poisoned by Mr. Lugovoy and Mr. Kovtun acting as agents" of Russia. Alpha particles emitted during polonium's alpha decay are not very penetrating and have ranges in the air of only a few centimeters.
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What work did Alexander Litvinenko do in Russia?
As a member of the KGB and its successor, the Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Litvinenko investigated domestic organized crime. After graduating from military college, he became an intelligence officer for the interior ministry from 1985 to 1988 and was then recruited by the KGB in 1988.
Following the dismantling of the KGB, Litvinenko continued to work for the Russian Ministry of Security and then moved to the FSB in 1994, where he handled counterterrorism and worked as an intelligence officer during the First Chechen War. In 1998, he publicly accused FSB officials of corruption, extortion, and murder, claiming he had been ordered to assassinate Boris Berezovsky.
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Why did Alexander Litvinenko leave Russia?
Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB and FSB agent, fled to London in November 2000 and received asylum after accusing FSB officials of corruption, extortion, and murder in 1998. Specifically, he claimed he was ordered to assassinate Boris Berezovsky. Facing retaliatory charges, Litvinenko was arrested, acquitted, rearrested, and eventually sentenced in absentia to nine years in prison. This prompted his move to London, where he later gained British citizenship in 2006.
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How did Alexander Litvinenko help British authorities?
Alexander Litvinenko was a Russian security agent who fled to London in 2000 and received asylum and British citizenship. Before his death by polonium poisoning in 2006, he reportedly investigated the assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. British authorities determined he was poisoned with green tea laced with polonium during a meeting with two Russian intelligence agents.
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What happened to Alexander Litvinenko in London?
Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian security agent who investigated organized crime, died in London on November 23, 2006, after being intentionally poisoned with polonium-210. British authorities found traces of the radioactive substance in locations he had visited and in people he had contacted.
Litvinenko became ill on November 1, 2006, while reportedly investigating the assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Two days before his death, he accused Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials of poisoning him.
An investigation revealed that Litvinenko was poisoned with green tea laced with polonium during a meeting with two Russian intelligence agents at a London hotel bar. A British report in 2016 concluded that the Federal Security Service (FSB) likely carried out the assassination with the approval of FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev and Vladimir Putin. The European Court of Human Rights reached a similar conclusion in 2021.
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Why is Alexander Litvinenko's death considered important in world politics?
Alexander Litvinenko's death is significant in world politics due to the implications of a state-sponsored assassination. Litvinenko, a former Russian security agent who investigated organized crime, accused FSB officials of corruption and was later poisoned with polonium-210 in London in November 2006.
Investigations revealed that Russian intelligence agents Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun carried out the poisoning, with approval from FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev and possibly President Vladimir Putin. The European Court of Human Rights also concluded that Lugovoy and Kovtun acted as Russian agents in the assassination. This event heightened tensions between Russia and the West, raising concerns about state-sponsored assassinations and the safety of dissidents living abroad.
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Alexander Litvinenko (born December 4, 1962, Voronezh, Russia, U.S.S.R.—died November 23, 2006, London, England) was a Russian security agent who investigated domestic organized crime in his role as a member of the KGB and its successor (from 1994) the Federal Security Service (FSB). He died after being intentionally poisoned with polonium-210; numerous investigatory bodies ruled that the murder was carried out by government agents acting on behalf of Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin.
Litvinenko finished his secondary education in Voronezh in 1980, and he elected to enroll in military college after he failed to secure admission to a university. He attended an academy for prospective interior ministry officers in Vladikavkaz, and he graduated as a lieutenant about 1985. From 1985 to 1988 he worked as an intelligence officer for the interior ministry, and in 1988 he was recruited by the KGB. Litvinenko completed a training program in Siberia, and in 1991 he was posted to KGB headquarters in Moscow as part of the bureau’s organized crime task force. After elements of the KGB were implicated in the 1991 coup attempt against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the organization was dismantled. As the Soviet Union disintegrated, the remaining elements of the country’s intelligence apparatus were reconstituted as Russian government agencies. Litvinenko continued working for the Russian Ministry of Security, the department that inherited the internal security functions of the KGB. In 1994 he moved to the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK, later FSB), where he handled counterterrorism. That year, while investigating a car bomb attack that targeted oligarch Boris Berezovksy, Litvinenko became friends with Berezovsky, and the two would remain close over subsequent years.
Litvinenko worked as an intelligence officer during the First Chechen War and in later Russian military operations in Chechnya, and he was eventually promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1998 he publicly accused FSB officials of corruption, extortion, and murder; in particular, he claimed that he had been ordered to assassinate Berezovsky. He was arrested, acquitted (1999), rearrested, and eventually sentenced in absentia to nine years in prison; the charges against him were widely perceived to have been retaliatory. In November 2000 Litvinenko fled with his family to London, where he was granted asylum and, in 2006, British citizenship. On November 1, 2006, while he reportedly was investigating the assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Litvinenko became seriously ill. Two days before his agonizing death from radiation poisoning, he accused Putin and other Russian officials of having poisoned him.
After his death, Litvinenko’s accusation that he had been deliberately poisoned was confirmed when authorities found traces of radioactive polonium-210 in numerous locations where he had been and in some people with whom he had been in contact. Investigators later determined that Litvinenko had been poisoned with green tea laced with polonium during a meeting with Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, two Russian intelligence agents, at a London hotel bar. A British parliamentary report published in 2016 found that “the FSB operation to kill Mr. Litvinenko was probably approved by [FSB Director Nikolai] Patrushev and also by President Putin.” The European Court of Human Rights reached a similar conclusion in 2021, ruling that Litvinenko “was poisoned by Mr. Lugovoy and Mr. Kovtun acting as agents” of Russia.