Suspected poisoning Russian ex-spy Litvinenko died in Russia Abroad

“Sad news, my good and faithful friend, Dmitri Kovtun, has suddenly passed away from a serious illness related to the coronavirus infection,” Andrei Lugovoy told Telegram. “This is a terrible and irreparable loss.”

In September 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that Russia was responsible for the murder of dissident Aleksander Litvinenko, who was poisoned in the Millennium Hotel in London in 2006. The court found that there was a strong suspicion that Dmitri Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoy “acted as agents of the Russian state”.

Litvinenko was a former agent of the Russian secret service KGB. He has lived in exile in Britain since 2001 after denouncing corruption and alleged links between Russian intelligence services and organized crime. He died on November 23, 2006 in London.

On his deathbed, Litvinenko pointed an accusing finger at President Vladimir Putin. In 2016, a British commission of inquiry concluded that Litvinenko had been poisoned with the radioactive polonium-210 by two Russians, Dmitri Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoy, but Russia always refused to extradite them.

The committee assumed that this was done on behalf of the Russian secret service FSB. President Putin is likely to personally approve the assassination operation, the report said. However, the researchers did not present conclusive evidence against the Russian head of state.

The other suspect, Andrei Lugovoy, has always denied involvement in the attack. Lugovoy, who has been in the Russian parliament for years, called the accusation against him “absurd” in 2016 and the Russian government also rejected the report. “I mourn the death of a dear and loyal friend,” Lugovoy said in response to Kovtun’s death.