The Litvinenko Inquiry

Part 9 | Chapters 1 to 12 | Who directed the killing?
Chapter 10: Russian State responsibility –
events since Alexander Litvinenko’s
death
9.164 It is apparent that Mr Litvinenko was not mourned long in Russia, at least not by
the government. Leading politicians made speeches attacking Mr Litvinenko and
even implying that he had deserved his fate (some of which I have referred to in
chapter 2 of Part 4 above). It has been suggested that British and German police
investigating Mr Litvinenko’s death received less than full cooperation from their
Russian counterparts. The Russian government refused a request made by the
British government to extradite Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun to face criminal charges.
Mr Lugovoy has been lionised in Russia. He has become a member of the Duma, and
indeed was awarded an honour by President Putin during the course of the Inquiry’s
hearings.
9.165 The question for present purposes is whether any of these matters amount to evidence
that the Russian government was actually involved in Mr Litvinenko’s murder.
Engagement with the criminal investigations
Russian aircraft not made available for testing
9.166 I have referred during the course of the narrative in Part 6 above to two occasions on
which British and German police investigators respectively were not able to inspect
Russian passenger aircraft that were of interest to their enquiries.
9.167 One of those planes was that on which Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun had flown from
Moscow to London on 16 October 2006 – Transaero EI-DDK (see above at paragraph
6.69). The other was the Aeroflot aircraft on which Mr Kovtun flew from Moscow to
Hamburg on 28 October 2006 (see paragraph 6.199 above).
9.168 I do not think that it would be safe to draw any inferences about responsibility for
Mr Litvinenko’s death from these two incidents. There is insufficient evidence to be
clear as to exactly what happened. Moreover, the two aircraft were operated by two
independent companies. Even on the assumption that the aircraft were deliberately
replaced on the schedules to avoid them being tested, there is no evidence on which
I can safely determine whether this was done at the instigation of the airlines to avoid
delay and disruption, or at the instigation of the Russian government, perhaps for
more sinister reasons.
Metropolitan Police Service visit to Moscow, December 2006
9.169 In December 2006, officers from the Metropolitan Police team investigating
Mr Litvinenko’s death made a formal visit to Moscow to interview witnesses. I heard
evidence from two officers who went on the trip to Moscow – Mr Tarpey 70 and
Mr Slater. 71
70
Tarpey 22/25-90
71
Slater 22/91-118
235