Front matter — The Litvinenko Inquiry

¶The Litvinenko Inquiry

¶Report into the death of

¶Alexander Litvinenko

¶Chairman: Sir Robert Owen

¶January 2016

¶The Litvinenko Inquiry

Report into the death of Alexander Litvinenko Chairman: Sir Robert Owen

Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 26 of the Inquiries Act 2005 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 21 January 2016

¶HC 695

¶This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.

¶Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

¶This publication is available at www.litvinenkoinquiry.org

¶Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

¶Print ISBN 9781474127332 Web ISBN 9781474127349

¶ID 11011605 51145 01/16

¶Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum

¶Printed in the UK by the Williams Lea Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office

¶| Contents

¶Contents Introductory

Part 1 Preface — 7
Part 2 Introduction — 9

¶Open narrative evidence

Part 3 Alexander Litvinenko – his life in Russia and the — 13

¶United Kingdom, his illness and death

Chapter 1 In Russia — 13
Chapter 2 Leaving Russia — 26
Chapter 3 In the United Kingdom — 29
Chapter 4 Illness and death — 33
Chapter 5 Scientific examination of Alexander Litvinenko's body — 45
Part 4 Why would anyone wish to kill Alexander Litvinenko? — 51
Chapter 1 Introduction — 51
Chapter 2 Enemy of the Russian State? — 52
Chapter 3 Work for UK intelligence agencies — 63
Chapter 4 Work for the Mitrokhin Commission in Italy — 68
Chapter 5 Work for the Spanish security services — 72
Chapter 6 Private security work — 74
Part 5 Alexander Litvinenko's final months — 85
Chapter 1 Introduction — 85
Chapter 2 The 2006 Russian laws — 86
Chapter 3 Continued opposition to President Putin — 92

¶The Litvinenko Inquiry

Chapter 4 Did Alexander Litvinenko fall out with and/or attempt — 94

¶to blackmail Boris Berezovsky?

Chapter 5 The Ivanov report — 100
Chapter 6 The murder of Anna Politkovskaya — 104
Chapter 7 British citizenship — 106
Chapter 8 Alexander Litvinenko's state of mind in October 2006 — 108
Part 6 The polonium trail – events in October and — 109

¶November 2006

Chapter 1 Introduction — 109
Chapter 2 Introduction to the scientific evidence — 110
Chapter 3 Dmitri Kovtun — 113
Chapter 4 Visa applications — 117
Chapter 5 Events in London 16-18 October — 121
Chapter 6 Events in London 25-28 October — 141
Chapter 7 Events in Hamburg 28 October – 1 November — 148
Chapter 8 Events in London 31 October – 3 November — 155

¶Closed evidence

Part 7 The closed evidence — 181

¶Findings as to responsibility for death

Part 8 Who killed Alexander Litvinenko? — 183
Chapter 1 Introduction — 183
Chapter 2 Medical cause of death — 184
Chapter 3 Where did Alexander Litvinenko ingest polonium 210 — 186

¶on 1 November 2006?

Chapter 4 Was there an earlier ingestion of polonium 210? — 187

¶| Contents

Chapter 5 Did Alexander Litvinenko poison himself? — 189
Chapter 6 Who administered the poison? — 192
Part 9 Who directed the killing? — 209
Chapter 1 Introduction — 209
Chapter 2 Boris Berezovsky — 210
Chapter 3 UK intelligence agencies — 211
Chapter 4 Organised crime — 212
Chapter 5 Mario Scaramella, Chechen groups, Alexander Talik — 213
Chapter 6 Russian State responsibility – introduction — 214
Chapter 7 Russian State responsibility – the source of the — 216

¶polonium 210

Chapter 8 Russian State responsibility – motive and evidence of — 227

¶similar deaths and killings

Chapter 9 Russian State responsibility – links between Andrey — 234

¶Lugovoy and Dmitri Kovtun and the Russian State

Chapter 10 Russian State responsibility – events since Alexander — 235

¶Litvinenko's death

Chapter 11 Conclusions regarding Russian State responsibility — 239
Chapter 12 Russian State responsibility – involvement of Nikolai — 241

¶Patrushev and President Vladimir Putin

¶Conclusions

Part 10 Summary of conclusions — 245

¶The Litvinenko Inquiry

¶Appendices

Appendix 1 The history of the Inquiry and procedures adopted — 247
Appendix 2 Terms of Reference — 265
Appendix 3 List of Issues — 267
Appendix 4 Chronology — 271
Appendix 5 Dramatis personae — 283
Appendix 6 Abbreviations — 295
Appendix 7 Restriction Notices and Orders — 297
Appendix 8 Key documents — 315
Appendix 9 List of witnesses — 319
Appendix 10 List of Inquiry staff and counsel — 323
Appendix 11 List of core participants and legal representatives — 325
Appendix 12 Closed appendices — 327