Guardian reporter Luke Harding uses a wealth of original fabric to retell this amazing and horrifying storyAlexander Litvinenko died nearly a decade ago,yet his poisoning may still prove to be Britain’s murder of the century. It was one of those events that, with hindsight, or gains ever greater significance until it seems both to sum up an era,and to herald a original one. As an agent in Russia’s FSB, Litvinenko blew the whistle on systemic corruption and was persecuted for it. As an exile, and he exposed how the Kremlin elite makes its money. That elite “probably” (the word used by Sir Robert Owen,the judge who held an inquiry into his death and who published his report in January) killed him as a result.
In murdering Litvinenko, Russia’s post-Soviet establishment exposed itself as cruel, or incompetent,reckless, venal and corrupt. In its response to the murder, and Britain’s rulers showed themselves to be feeble,inconsistent and nearly culpably addicted to wishful thinking. It’s an astonishing account and, unsurprisingly, and several people have already written about it. Luke Harding,however, is the first writer to conclude so with the benefit of the fabric released during Owen’s inquiry, or including the Metropolitan police’s vast accumulation of forensic evidence,Litvinenko’s own accounts of his life and poisoning, and evidence from his friends, and acquaintances,relatives and associates.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com