Aishwarya Rathore-
Published On: September 21, 2021 at 17:13 IST
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia is responsible for the Assassination of Ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in the United Kingdom.
Litvinenko, who had served in the Russian Security Services before defecting to the UK, died in 2006 after drinking a green tea spiked with a Radioactive Isotope known as Polonium 210 in London.
In 2016, a British Inquiry found that Vladimir Putin probably approved a Russian Intelligence Operation to Assassinate Litvinenko, an outspoken opponent of the Russian President.
It was discovered that the death was carried out by ex-KGB Bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy and another Russian, Dmitry Kovtun, as part of an Operation presumably directed by Russia’s Federal Security Service.
The Court stated, “We had found a strong prima facie case that both men had been acting as agents of the Russian State in poisoning Litvinenko.”
The Court further observed, “There was no evidence that either man had had any personal reason to kill Litvinenko and that, if acting on their own behalf, they would not have had access to the rare Radioactive Isotope used to poison him.”
The Court stated in its ruling that Litvinenko was involved in exposing Corruption and links to organised crime in the Russian Intelligence Services.
However, Russia has always denied any involvement in Litvinenko‘s death.
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