UK Home Secretary Theresa May has announced that a public inquiry will be held into the death of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
Litvinenko, a former KGB officer, died in 2006 as a British citizen, with rumoured MI6 affiliation, after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in London.
The inquiry will investigate whether Russia was behind the assassination of the 43-year-old dissident, who was poisoned while drinking tea with two Russian men, including one current KGB agent, in a London hotel.
The scarcity of the element used to kill Litvinenko also points to Russian involvement, as Polonium-210 is very rare in nature and more commonly occurs in uranium ores, which only a limited number of countries have access to.
In a press conference, Litvinenko’s widow, Marina, said:
“I would like to be able to show people that you are able to get justice, in any difficult situation”
Despite the launch of the investigation, it is unlikely that the assassins would face trial in the UK, as Russia has refused to extradite one of the suspects, Andrei Lugovoi, to face rial for the murder in 2007.
