Russia: Spy Games - The Murder of Alexander Litvinenko

An ex-KGB agent, Alexander Litvinenko, who fled from Russia and kept his attacks against the Kremlin during his exile in London was found poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope polonium-210, later died in a slow and painful way on 23 November 2006, a couple of days before his death he issued a statement accusing President Putin for the murder.

Litvinenko first felt ill on 1 November 2006 after having tea with two Russians at Millennium Hotel in central London, followed by lunch with an Italian at a London sushi bar, Itsu, in Piccadilly. Traces of radiation have been found in both locations. Positive detection have been recorded from a total of 12 sites, including three British Airways planes that have flown between UK and Russia.

In Moscow, Russian intelligence denied any involvement in the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko had been a vocal critic of Russian authorities since 1998 and published two books on the respective subjects including the allegation of the plot of a series of apartment bombings across the country in 1999 causing the death of 300 people to be directed by Russian government to legitimize the invasion of Chechnya which led into second Chechen war.

Polonium-210 is an effective and convenient poison, it is 250,000 times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide, 0.1 microgram is enough to kill. In theory, one gram of it is enough to poison 2 million people, of this one million would die. Pure alpha particles emitted by Polonium will damage organic tissues easily if it is inhaled, ingested or absorbed, although outside the body it does not penetrate the epidermis or even a thin sheet of tissue paper, which makes it non-hazardous outside the body and convenient to transport undetected.

Alexander Litvinenko remains a controversial figure, some named him a traitor to his native land while others praised him a courageous whistleblower against the powerful authorities. The case will most probably remain unsolved, at least to public, as most of the spy games are. However, where did the polonium-210 come from? According to Professor Nick Priest, one of the few UK scientists who had worked with polonium-210, said there are at least three ways to make polonium-210, i) extracted from rocks containing radioactive uranium, ii) separated chemically from radium-226, iii) produced from nuclear reactor, but to obtain the amount enough to kill a person, it can only be produced by nuclear reactor. British investigators suggested the amount used to kill Litvinenko was massive and could only be obtained either from a nuclear reactor or well connected black market smugglers.

The murder brought UK-Russian relationship to a new low after Russia refused to extradite a prime suspect, Andrei Lugovoi, claiming it was against Russian constitution. UK expelled four Russian diplomats in July 2007 and Russian followed suit by expelling four UK embassy staffs in the same month.

Alexander Litvinenko, before and after poisoning.