The Litvinenko Inquiry

The Litvinenko Inquiry
Marina Litvinenko was there. The interview (which featured Mr Litvinenko, Andrei
Ponkin and Alexander Gusak) was not, in the event, broadcast until November 1998,
shortly after the press conference. 39
3.52 In his account in The Gang from the Lubyanka, Mr Litvinenko stated that by this
stage both he and Mr Berezovsky had spoken separately to Mr Kovalyev, the head of
the FSB, about the order to kill Mr Berezovsky. Mr Litvinenko recorded that after his
meeting he heard from Mr Gusak that Mr Kovalyev was “very unhappy” that he had
told Mr Berezovsky about the order: “He said it was – a betrayal of the interests of the
security services. To go and give everything to a stranger.” 40
3.53 On Marina Litvinenko’s account, Mr Kovalyev summoned Mr Litvinenko and all the
URPO officers who supported his claims to his office on the day after the filming with
Mr Dorenko had taken place. He demanded that they withdraw their allegations. They
refused to do so. 41
3.54 Mr Litvinenko next followed the advice of Mr Savostianov and filed an official complaint
with the Military Prosecution Service. Some of the official papers relating to that complaint
are in evidence before me. They show that Mr Litvinenko complained of having received
illegal orders relating to Mr Trepashkin, Mr Dzhabrailov and Mr Berezovsky. 42 It would
appear that at this stage both Mr Litvinenko and his colleagues and URPO commanders,
including General Khokholkov, were suspended from the FSB. In May and June 1998
Mr Litvinenko gave evidence to the Military Prosecution Service. 43
3.55 On 7 June 1998 President Yeltsin dismissed Mr Kovalyev as head of the FSB and
replaced him with Vladimir Putin. Mr Berezovsky arranged for Mr Litvinenko to meet
Mr Putin, in order that he could tell him what he knew about FSB corruption and
unlawful conduct. The meeting between the two men took place in or about July 1998.
Marina Litvinenko’s evidence was that Mr Litvinenko had not been confident that
Mr Putin would be an agent of change within the FSB. His view, she said, was
that Mr Putin was inexperienced, and also probably mixed up in criminal activity
himself from his days in St Petersburg. 44
3.56 Mr Litvinenko described his first and only meeting with Mr Putin in The Gang from the
Lubyanka. He said:
“He came out from behind the desk… to greet me. Apparently, he wanted to show
an open, likeable personality. We, operatives, have a special style of behaviour.
We do not bow to each other, do without pleasantries – and so everything is clear.
Just look into each other’s eyes and it becomes clear, do you trust the person or
not. And I immediately had the impression that he is not sincere. He looked not like
an FSB director, but a person who played the director.” 45
3.57 The evidence was that in October 1998 the URPO investigation by the Military
Prosecution Service was closed. The conclusion of the investigation was that no
39
INQ017734 (page 7 paragraphs 20-21)
40
BLK000253 (pages 7-8)
41
INQ017734 (pages 7-8 paragraph 23)
42
HMG000115
43
INQ017734 (page 8 paragraph 24)
44
Marina Litvinenko 3/71-74; INQ017734 (pages 8-9 paragraphs 27-29)
45
BLK000253 (page 10)
22