The Litvinenko Inquiry

Part 9 | Chapters 1 to 12 | Who directed the killing?
Chapter 8: Russian State responsibility – motive
and evidence of similar deaths
and killings
Motive
9.118 In chapter 1 of Part 4 above, I have addressed at some length the question of whether
elements within the Russian State might have had a motive for killing Mr Litvinenko. I
have also referred, in paragraph 5.27 above, to the article that Mr Litvinenko published
in July 2006 accusing President Putin of being a paedophile.
9.119 I consider that there were several reasons why organisations and individuals within
the Russian State might have wished to target Mr Litvinenko, including to the point
of killing him, by late 2006. These reasons overlapped and their effect was no doubt
cumulative. By way of summary, I shall identify five core themes that emerge from my
analysis in the earlier sections of the Report.
9.120 First, Mr Litvinenko was regarded as having betrayed the FSB as a result of the
public disclosures that he made before he left Russia, in particular his claim that
he had been ordered to kill Mr Berezovsky. This idea of betrayal was compounded
by Mr Litvinenko’s campaigning activity in the UK. The two books that he wrote
accused the FSB of responsibility for the 1999 apartment bombings and of collusion
in organised crime.
9.121 Second, according to Mr Lugovoy the FSB also received information that Mr Litvinenko
was working for British intelligence, and that he had tried to recruit Mr Lugovoy to do
so too.
9.122 Third, Mr Litvinenko was a prominent associate of both Boris Berezovsky and Akhmed
Zakayev, both of whom were leading opponents of the Putin administration.
9.123 Fourth, the causes espoused by Mr Litvinenko – such as the FSB’s alleged responsibility
for the apartment bombings, the war in Chechnya, and alleged collusion between
President Putin and other members of his administration and organised crime – were
areas of particular sensitivity to the Putin administration.
9.124 Finally, there was undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism between
Mr Litvinenko on the one hand and President Putin on the other. The history between
the two men dated back to their (only) meeting in 1998, at a time when Mr Putin
was the newly appointed head of the FSB and Mr Berezovsky and Mr Litvinenko still
hoped that he might implement a programme of reform. In the years that followed,
Mr Litvinenko made repeated highly personal attacks on President Putin, culminating
in the allegation of paedophilia in July 2006.
9.125 These themes overlap. Many of them are reflected in Professor Service’s observation
that President Putin, “almost certainly looked on what Litvinenko did after fleeing
abroad as punishable treachery”. 45 I am satisfied that, in general terms, members of
the Putin administration, including the President himself and the FSB, had motives for
taking action against Mr Litvinenko, including killing him, in late 2006.
45
INQ019146 (page 15 paragraph 46)
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