‘Killers hoped polonium would never be found’. Belsat TV interviews Alexander Litvinenko widow

Marina Litvinenko, the widow of Alexander Litvinenko, a former lieutenant colonel of the KGB and FSB, who was allegedly poisoned by Russian agents in the UK in 2006, granted an exclusive interview to Viktoryia Kolchyna, a Belsat TV correspondent in London.

Is there any connection between the death of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and the death of your husband who was killed a few weeks later?

Just a week before his death, he spoke at the Anna Politkovskaya commemoration event in Front Line Club, where journalists can freely meet. When the rhetorical question ‘Who killed Anna?’ was voiced, my husband who did not intend to speak at first asked for a microphone and said that Anna Politkovskaya was killed by [at the order of – Belsat] Putin. It was a very strong statement. The videos of that time show how Sasha was feeling about the death of Anya and his promises to investigate the case, to find out who was behind the crime. According to him, the main blame was on the man who at that time was considered the most important person and who always said that he is responsible for everything what is going on in Russia.

They killed Alexander Litvinenko and left traces of polonium across the entire London. Boris Nemtsov was killed near the Kremlin. Anna Politkovskaya was killed on Putin’s birthday. Why do they act so demonstratively?

Anya was killed in Moscow. They tried to present it as an ordinary criminal murder. But according to the investigation and the court, special services turned out to spy upon her. The same thing is happening to the case of Boris Nemtsov – it has not yet been completed, there has been no hearing.

However, the two cases are connected by the fact that the crimes took place in Russia. And the investigation is going on in Russia, and the responsibility is on the investigative bodies of Russia. And we do not know whether they actually want to investigate the case.

Sasha was killed in London, and the police investigation was independent. For the British people this murder was extraordinary. British investigators never experienced carrying out such a case. This death was to be have been inexplicable – a person dies, but the cause is unknown. The people who killed him, did not expect the traces of polonium to be identified. As Sasha managed to live 23 days after poisoning, it became clear that it was radiation. He looked as a liquidator of the Chernobyl disaster, but there were no gamma rays.

Why was he killed?

A gang seized the country, he said, and Iwas a member of the gang which never lets anyone go. I managed to get away, but I was not forgiven. And the biggest crime one can commit is to step on their ‘right’ to make fortune. After the communist morality and the communist ideology collapsed, they found a new one – the ideology of money, the ability to make money by any means, even seize everything that the country has. And Sasha interfered and started to profesionally expose all their schemes, because he was a professional. <…> That is what he might have been killed for.

Or for example, if you are at a meeting in the office of your boss and he suddenly asks you: “Could you kill Berezovsky?” Sasha was shocked.

He realized that everything was recorded or filmed there. And if they ask you about such things, there is something behind it. In addition, their bosses had repeatedly made them [Litvinenko and colleagues] commit unlawful acts. And suddenly such a question emerged. It was on the eve of 1998. I remember that Sasha was very frustrated.

Later, Sasha met with Berezovsky and asked if he knew that such a crime could be committed against him. Berezovsky did not believe in it. Then an internal investigation was conducted, it turned against Sasha and his colleagues. And then fear appeared. There was a feeling that [the Russian side] would simply deal with them. Sasha realized that there would never be any justice and the rule of law within the system, that the power was being seized at any cost.

Do you believe that Boris Berezovsky committed suicide?

The police came to the conclusion that it was suicide. But there was also an independent expert who indicated facts that could allegedly confirm the version of murder. As for me, it is very hard to believe that Boris Abramovich could kill himself. He survived so many falls that such a devastating defeat [the arrest of property lobbied by the Russian authorities – Belsat] could have influence on him. I think it was incitement to suicide.

What do you want the British side to undertake after considering your case?

The hearing came to its end long ago, in January. And people keep asking me why the British government does not take action as actively as anyone would like. I believe that the measures to be taken by the British Government should not rush, but well-prepared. According to the court the responsibility for the death of Alexander Litvinenko is on the Russian government and the murder was probably approved by President Vladimir Putin and the then FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev. It was the most important thing that was voiced in court.

I do not expect that the relations between Great Britain and Russia will be cut off. The measures to be taken will be focused on the future. I am sure that it is impossible to have normal ties with the state which does not fulfil its obligations, e.g. fails to extradite criminals, harbours them. Such things may affect the future of relations between Russia and Britain.

Interviewed by Viktoryia Kolchyna, Belsat TV, London

See also: Putin’s trace in heinous murder of Alexander Litvinenko (ENG video)