Part 9: Who directed the killing?

¶Chapter 1: Introduction

¶9.1 I have made the finding that Mr Litvinenko was poisoned by Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun.

¶9.2 However, this immediately raises a further question. There is no evidence at all that either Mr Lugovoy or Mr Kovtun had any personal reason to kill Mr Litvinenko. Mr Lugovoy may have commented after Mr Litvinenko's death that he regarded Mr Litvinenko as a traitor, but I do not think for a moment that that feeling on its own would have been sufficient to motivate Mr Lugovoy to plan and conduct the protracted and costly operation against Mr Litvinenko that I have outlined above. Moreover, had Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun been acting on their own behalf, it seems highly unlikely that they would have had access to the polonium 210 that they used to poison Mr Litvinenko. All the evidence points in one direction, namely that, when they killed Mr Litvinenko, Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun were acting on behalf of someone else.

¶9.3 This Part will address the question of who directed Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun to kill Mr Litvinenko.

¶9.4 The structure of this Part will be as follows.

¶9.5 In Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 I will consider whether any of the individuals and organisations listed at paragraphs 17, 19,²⁰²⁰ INQ006067 (page 5 paragraph 31) and 21 of the List of Issues (see Appendix 3) (i.e. Boris Berezovsky, United Kingdom (UK) intelligence agencies, organised crime groups, Mario Scaramella, Chechen groups and Alexander Talik) had any involvement in Mr Litvinenko's death.

¶9.6 In Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 I will analyse the evidence relating to various aspects of the issue at paragraph 18 of the List of Issues – the possible involvement of Russian State agencies in Mr Litvinenko's death.

¶9.7 In Chapter 11 I will set out my conclusions on the issue of Russian State responsibility for Mr Litvinenko's death.

¶9.8 In Chapter 12 I will address one further issue, namely whether Nikolai Patrushev (the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in 2006) and/or President Putin bear any responsibility for Mr Litvinenko's death.

¶9.9 The factual content of these chapters will be drawn from the open evidence (I have analysed the closed evidence in Part 7). I stress, however, that, as with Part 8, the findings that I make below will be based on both the open and the closed evidence that I have heard.

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Chapter 2: Boris Berezovsky

¶9.10 There are two points to note about the suggestion that it was Mr Berezovsky who was ultimately responsible for ordering the killing of Mr Litvinenko.

¶9.11 The first point is that the motive that his accusers have always ascribed to Mr Berezovsky

for wishing Mr Litvinenko dead is a fear of blackmail at the hands of his protégé. I have addressed the question of a rift between Mr Litvinenko and Mr Berezovsky, and the suggestion that Mr Litvinenko may have been blackmailing Mr Berezovsky, or planning to do so, in Part 5 above.

¶9.12 I am satisfied that Mr Litvinenko was not blackmailing Mr Berezovsky. Even if he

did occasionally make comments suggesting taking some form of action against Mr Berezovsky (for example, the comments related by Dr Svetlichnaya and the conversation at the Golden Dragon related by Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun), I am quite satisfied that these were never put into effect. It is clear from the evidence that I have heard that it was not unusual for Mr Litvinenko to propose courses of action in conversation with friends and associates that never subsequently came to anything. Mr Litvinenko and Mr Berezovsky remained friends until the end of Mr Litvinenko's life. There was no blackmail, and therefore no motive for Mr Berezovsky to have Mr Litvinenko killed.

¶9.13 The second point is that the allegation that Mr Berezovsky was responsible for

Mr Litvinenko's death is one that has been actively canvassed by Mr Lugovoy himself. Mr Lugovoy has not suggested that he killed Mr Litvinenko on Mr Berezovsky's behalf. Rather, Mr Lugovoy's argument has always been that he was not involved at all and that it was Mr Berezovsky who was responsible, perhaps with others, for the killing.

¶9.14 But I have now made the finding that it was Mr Lugovoy, with Mr Kovtun, who killed

¶Mr Litvinenko.

¶9.15 There is no evidence at all that Mr Lugovoy might have been acting on

Mr Berezovsky's behalf, and that hypothesis is inconsistent with the actions of both men since Mr Litvinenko's death. It is unlikely that Mr Lugovoy would have blamed Mr Berezovsky if he had been acting on his behalf when he poisoned Mr Litvinenko. As to Mr Berezovsky, I heard evidence from Mr Cotlick, his former personal assistant, that following Mr Litvinenko's death he spoke to Mr Lugovoy on the telephone and encouraged him to come to London and stand trial. He told Mr Lugovoy that he "could rely on the English justice system, and if he was really innocent, this would be found out by the court." He even offered to pay Mr Lugovoy's legal expenses.1 This is all wholly inconsistent with the idea that in fact Mr Lugovoy killed Mr Litvinenko on Mr Berezovsky's behalf.

¶9.16 In summary, I am quite satisfied that Mr Berezovsky bore no responsibility for

¶Mr Litvinenko's death.¹¹ INQ022399 Cotlick 25/64

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¶Part 9 | Chapters 1 to 12 | Who directed the killing?

Chapter 3: UK intelligence agencies

¶9.17 The allegation that UK intelligence agencies were responsible for Mr Litvinenko's

death is of a piece with the 'set up' issue that I have addressed in Part 8 above. Mr Lugovoy, for example, has advanced this allegation in the following terms:2

"I was framed. I suspect this was some British intelligence operation involving Litvinenko and possibly Berezovsky that went wrong. I was contaminated by Litvinenko or someone else, not the other way round. I think polonium was planted on us and left in places we visited, to frame us."

¶9.18 I repeat what I have said at paragraphs 8.161 – 8.164 above. I heard no evidence to support this allegation.

¶9.19 I am entirely satisfied that UK intelligence agencies, and for that matter UK government bodies more generally, played no part at all in Mr Litvinenko's death.²² A translated copy of the law provided to the Solicitor to the Inquiry by the Russian Embassy in London is at INQ018962 HMG000175 (pages 9-10)

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