The inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko is expected to deliver its findings this week. The former Russian spy was poisoned with polonium-210 in a cup of tea at the Millennium Hotel in London, an act that has been linked to state agents acting on behalf of the Kremlin.
According to evidence gathered by Scotland Yard, the men responsible were Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, both former FSB operatives. Their first attempt to kill Litvinenko, in a Grosvenor Street boardroom, failed when he did not drink from a contaminated cup. The successful poisoning occurred on 1 November 2006 at the hotel.
The poison used was polonium-210, a rare and highly radioactive isotope produced at a nuclear reactor in the Urals and processed at a secret FSB laboratory in Sarov. Litvinenko, a former FSB officer who had fled Russia in 2000, became a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin and later worked as an MI6 expert on Russian organised crime. He was due to testify to a Spanish prosecutor shortly before his death.
The Millennium Hotel's CCTV system captured much of the events, though some areas were not covered. The footage shows the movements of the assassins and their victim, providing a detailed record of the murder. The inquiry is expected to confirm that Lugovoi and Kovtun acted on state orders.
