Intelligence

Minister attacks Putin and 'murky murders'

Telegraph | News | Minister attacks Putin and 'murky murders'

By Duncan Gardham and George Jones
Last Updated: 11:42am GMT 27/11/2006

Tensions between Britain and Russia over the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent, burst into the open yesterday when a Cabinet minister condemned the "murky murders" clouding Vladimir Putin's regime.

Peter Hain's hint at possible Kremlin involvement in Mr Litvinenko's death from radiation poisoning four days ago came as John Reid, the Home Secretary, said the police were now treating the death as "suspicious".

An inquest into the former spy's death is expected to open on Thursday at St Pancras Coroners' Court, Camden Council said today. Dr Andrew Reid, London's inner north district coroner, is still assesssing whether it is safe to conduct a post mortem on Mr Litvinenko's body.

Meanwhile, the Home Secretary is hosting emergency talks this morning with the Cobra committee, which brings together ministers, officials and experts, to discuss the latest developments in the case.

Until now police have referred to it as an unexplained death although they previously said they suspected deliberate poisoning. A formal request has been submitted to Moscow for any information that might help the police.

While Downing Street and the Foreign Office have carefully avoided suggesting direct Russian involvement, Mr Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary and a contender for Labour's deputy leadership, delivered an outspoken attack on Mr Putin.

Mr Hain, interviewed on BBC Television's Sunday AM programme, said relations between London and Moscow were "tricky" following Mr Litvinenko's death.

He criticised the Russian leader's "huge attacks" on liberty and democracy. "The promise that President Putin brought to Russia when he came to power has been clouded by what has happened since, including some extremely murky murders," Mr Hain said.

He referred to the earlier shooting of Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent journalist critical of President Putin's human rights record in Chechnya.

Mr Hain said the attacks on democracy and individual liberty in Russia had overshadowed President Putin's success in "binding a disintegrating nation together" and achieving stability from an economy which had been collapsing into "Mafioso-style chaos".

"It's important he retakes the democratic road in my view," Mr Hain said. His remarks do not appear to have been sanctioned by Downing Street and are likely to embarrass Mr Blair, who has courted Mr Putin as an international friend and ally.

A Downing Street spokesman said last night: "While there is an ongoing police investigation and Health Protection Agency investigation, we don't have anything to say on this."

Mr Hain is an outspoken minister, who is prepared to go further than other Cabinet colleagues and officials in speaking his mind. Government officials insisted last night, however, that they would not point the finger of suspicion without evidence of Russian involvement.

Mr Litvinenko, who was granted asylum in this country and had recently become a British citizen, died from suspected poisoning with the radioactive element polonium 210.

His friend, Alex Goldfarb, welcomed Mr Hain's comments. He said it was "long overdue" that western governments raised concerns about "the twist of Russia towards an uncontrollable and unaccountable police state which poses a danger to the rest of the world".

The Government's emergency planning commitee, Cobra, met over the weekend to discuss the implications of his death, which is threatening serious diplomatic repercussions.

The Foreign Office has spoken to the Russian Ambassador, Yuri Fedotov, asking authorities in Moscow to make available any information which might assist police with their inquiries.

Shortly before his death on Thursday, Mr Litvinenko blamed his mysterious poisoning on Putin. The Russian president has dismissed the accusation.

The weekend papers canvassed various conspiracy theories — including suggestions that he had been murdered by dissident Russians seeking to discredit Mr Putin.

Police are trying to piece together Mr Litvinenko's movements on Nov 1, the day he was taken ill.

They have focused their attention on the Itsu sushi restaurant in Piccadilly, where he met Italian investigator Mario Scaramella for lunch. Investigations are also continuing at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square where Mr Litvinenko met two former KGB colleagues, Andrei Logovoi and Dimitry Kovtun.

Searches have taken place at the hotel's Pine Bar and a room on the fourth floor. Traces of radioactivity have been found at both the hotel and sushi restaurant, along with Mr Litvinenko's home in North London, but police are still trying to work out in which order and by whom the traces were deposited.

Mr Reid refused to be drawn on the progress of the police investigation, apart from confirming that murder was a possible line of inquiry. "As at this stage, they're saying to me that they now regard the death as suspicious. That wasn't the case yesterday, for instance. "They're now saying, however, that they keep all possible options and avenues open," he said.

The Tories will be seeking a Commons statement from the Government today.

David Davis, Tory home affairs spokesman, called on the Russian authorities to cooperate with police inquiries. He said: "It is essential that other dissidents living in Britain are reassured about their safety and there are also questions about how polonium 210 came to be used in Britain."

November 27, 2006 at 10:00 AM in | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home