Chapter 6: The murder of Anna Politkovskaya

¶5.67 Anna Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist on the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

She was a critic of President Putin – Professor Service described her as, "a regular harrier of both Putin and Chechnya's brutal ruler Ramzan Kadyrov".⁶⁰⁶⁰ Marina Litvinenko 4/102-105; HMG000122 Goldfarb 5/128-129 INQ019146 (page 23 paragraph 73) Reilly 10/80-119 Goldfarb 26/69; 27/114-116 I have already mentioned her on several occasions, for example in the reference to her investigations into the Moscow theatre siege (paragraph 4.38 above) and to her work on the War Crimes Commission established by Mr Zakayev (paragraph 4.56 above).

¶5.68 On the evidence that I have heard, Anna Politkovskaya and Mr Litvinenko were both campaigners who shared a cause and were also close friends.

¶5.69 It appears that Mr Litvinenko and Ms Politkovskaya first met in 2003 at court hearings

in London relating to Mr Zakayev's extradition.61 Marina Litvinenko said that the two became friends, and that Ms Politkovskaya subsequently visited them "once or twice" in London.62 Mr Goldfarb, who was himself a friend of Ms Politkovskaya, thought that the two had been "very close"; he said that they had "a natural kinship as converts", Mr Litvinenko having been a KGB officer and Ms Politkovskaya's father having been a senior Russian diplomat.63

¶5.70 I should add in this connection that I am aware of suggestions that have been made

that Ms Politkovskaya did not trust Mr Litvinenko because of his FSB past (see Putin's Labyrinth by Steve Levine, page 125). None of the witnesses who gave evidence before me mentioned this, but that does not of course mean that it is not true.

¶5.71 The relationship between the two was not purely social. I heard that they collaborated

on investigative work, one example being their work together with regard to possible FSB involvement in the Moscow theatre siege.64

¶5.72 I also heard that Mr Litvinenko became very concerned for Ms Politkovskaya's safety.

Marina Litvinenko told me that Mr Litvinenko had urged Ms Politkovskaya to take advantage of her American citizenship and to "go and write [her] articles in America"; but she had refused. Mr Litvinenko had also given her personal security advice, "how to feel safe if you went to your apartment, how to check if nobody is staying in a corner". In the end, Marina Litvinenko reflected, this advice had been insufficient, "unfortunately, he couldn't save her".⁶⁵⁶⁵ INQ017734 (page 22 paragraph 76); Marina Litvinenko 4/101 (2003) NIQB 56 Marina Litvinenko 3/146 Reilly 10/108 Zakeyev 26/163-167

¶5.73 Anna Politkovskaya was murdered by gunmen outside her Moscow apartment on

¶7 October 2006.

¶5.74 All of those who gave evidence to me on this subject were agreed that Mr Litvinenko

was deeply affected by Ms Politkovskaya's death. Marina Litvinenko recalled giving him the news, and said that, "he was just broken down because for him it was absolutely devastating news".66 Mr Quirke said that Mr Litvinenko had mentioned Ms Politkovskaya's death to him, and that he had been upset about it, as well as

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being worried that "he could be next."⁶⁷⁶⁷ Felshtinsky 23/143-144 Garnham 1/178-179 Quirke 11/64-66 INQ018987 (page 2) Scaramella 15/172-178 Mr Attew told me that Mr Litvinenko had been "outraged" at Ms Politkovskaya's death.68

¶5.75 Mr Litvinenko attended two events in London held in response to Ms Politkovskaya's

murder. The first was a memorial meeting held at Westminster on the afternoon of 13 October 2006; I will return to that meeting shortly.

¶5.76 The second of these events was a meeting at the Front Line Club in London on

the evening of 19 October 2006. Marina Litvinenko said that she had been aware of the meeting at the time, but that she had not accompanied Mr Litvinenko to it.69 Mr Zakayev told me that he had taken Mr Litvinenko to the meeting as his guest. He was one of the platform speakers. During the meeting, Mr Litvinenko made a short speech from the floor publicly accusing President Putin of being responsible for Anna Politkovskaya's murder. A video recording of that speech was made, which was played to the Inquiry.70 Mr Zakayev said that he "absolutely" agreed with what Mr Litvinenko had said, although he had not said so expressly in his own speech at the Front Line Club that evening because of the post that he then held as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the exiled Chechen government.

¶5.77 When Mr Zakayev was asked whether he thought that Mr Litvinenko's outspokenness

about Ms Politkovskaya's death was linked in any way to his own death, Mr Zakayev replied; "We were on the same list, Anna Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and myself."⁷¹⁷¹ Marina Litvinenko 3/97; Felshtinsky 23/145-146 INQ015669 Zakayev 26/160-161 Mascall 9/97-101 Slater 22/91-118

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¶The Litvinenko Inquiry