Russian spy: Putin responsible for my death

CNN
Nov. 25, 2006

A former KGB spy, in a statement read after his death, accused President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating his killing and said the Russian leader will face "a howl of protest from around the world."

"You may succeed in silencing me, but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics claim," Alexander Litvinenko said in a statement released Friday.

"You may succeed in silencing one man. But a howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done."

Litvinenko spokesman Alex Goldfarb said the statement was dictated on November 21 from the man's London hospital bed.

The statement also said: "You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value. You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women."

Litvinenko, 43, died Thursday night after falling ill three weeks ago amid speculation that he had been poisoned.

Hospital officials said he died from an undetermined illness.

"The matter is being investigated as an unexplained death," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Kremlin denies involvement

On Friday, the Kremlin attempted to distance itself from accusations it had plotted to assassinate Litvinenko because of his outspoken criticism of the Russian government -- an allegation supported by Litvinenko and his friends. (Friends react)

"We don't have any reaction to the allegations," said Dmitri Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, when asked for a response about Litvinenko's supposed poisoning and death at the hands of the former communist nation.

"The allegations are nothing but nonsense. You can't react from nonsense."

Peskov added that it was Britain's responsibility to launch an investigation into the death since that was where Litvinenko had been living for the past several years.

Peskov was attending the European Union Summit in Finland alongside Putin on Friday. During the summit's news conference later in the day, Putin is expected to field additional questions from reporters about the death.

Doctors reported earlier Thursday that Litvinenko's condition had suffered a "major deterioration" overnight, and that extensive tests had failed to turn up the cause of his illness. He was pronounced dead at 9:21 p.m. Thursday (4:21 p.m. ET), hospital spokesman Jim Down said.

Down said doctors at University College Hospital "did everything possible to save his life." He declined further comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

"Our thoughts are with Mr. Litvinenko's family," he said.

Goldfarb, Litvinenko's spokesman, said Wednesday that Litvinenko had suffered heart failure and was placed on life support.

Litvinenko said he was poisoned after meeting with a contact who claimed to have information connecting the Russian government with the October slaying of a frequent critic, journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

A Russian former intelligence official was quoted on Friday as saying he was ready to answer any questions from British police over his meeting Litvinenko. (Full story)

Fell ill after meeting

Litvinenko fell ill hours after the meeting, which took place at a London sushi restaurant -- but was able to spend more than 15 hours talking with detectives during his hospitalization, Goldfarb said.

His combination of symptoms -- including dehydration, heart complications and hair loss -- led doctors to suspect the heavy metal thallium. Tests ruled out thallium poisoning or any radioactive material, and one of his doctors, Amit Nathwani, said it was "quite possible" that the cause would never be known.

Litvinenko was once a colonel in Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB. He has been a defender of the Chechen separatists who have battled Moscow's rule for much of the past 15 years, and has accused the government of orchestrating the bombings of a string of apartment buildings as a pretext for its 1999 invasion of the breakaway republic.

He left Russia in 2000, accusing his former agency of planning to kill opponents of Putin, and he recently blamed the Kremlin for Politkovskaya's death.

The Kremlin has denied any role in Litvinenko's death. FSB spokesman Sergei Ivanov told the Russian news agency Interfax on Wednesday that the agency was "sorry for what has happened to him," and wished Litvinenko a "speedy recovery."

Ivanov suggested the culprit lay among Litvinenko's associates in London. And others say Litvinenko had underworld connections that might have been behind his poisoning.