It may not help the Syria peace talks, but Russia’s leader must pay a price for Litvinenko’s assassination
6:45PM GMT 19 Jan 2016
Ever since British security investigators realised that the Russian dissident had been poisoned with polonium-210 – a rare radioactive isotope made only at closed nuclear facilities controlled by Russia – during a meeting with Russian intelligence officers at a London hotel, the finger of suspicion has pointed firmly towards Vladimir Putin.
“One of the Russian president’s less endearing features is that, when confronted with clear evidence of Russian wrong-doing, he simply reverts to bare-faced lies”
Marina Litvinenko, the widow of the former spy (who, as she says, was working as a part-time consultant for Britain’s MI6 intelligence service), will certainly be among those calling for tougher action when Sir Robert’s findings are made public. Having campaigned courageously for nearly a decade to expose the truth about her husband’s death, Mrs Litvinenko recently told The Daily Telegraph that Britain should take punitive measures against those responsible for his murder.
“These people (those implicated in the murder) definitely need to be under these sanctions,” she said. “They still survive. They still travel. I think there should be a very serious discussion about what kind of sanctions and against whom.”
But while her demands are likely to generate a great deal of sympathy from politicians of all persuasions, the conclusions of Sir Robert’s inquiry could not have come at a worse time for Mr Cameron as he seeks to intensify diplomatic efforts to resolve the war in Syria.
Next week, the world’s leading powers – including Russia – will reconvene in Vienna for talks aimed at trying to end a conflict that has already claimed 300,000 lives and caused the greatest refugee crisis Europe has faced since the end of the Second World War.
Russia’s role in resolving the crisis is deemed to be crucial, not least because Moscow’s recent military intervention in the conflict means it can now bring direct pressure to bear on some of the participants, in particular the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Although Moscow insists the reason for deploying a large military force to Syria was to tackle the threat posed by Islamic State (Isil), the reality is that the Russians, encouraged by Iran, feared the Assad regime, a long-standing ally, was about to fall.
It has been suggested, though, that the Russians might be prepared to consider Assad’s removal, so long as Moscow is allowed to maintain its strategic relationship with Syria. Thus, in their desperation to bring the bloodshed in Syria to an end, the main priority for Western leaders today is to build better relations with Moscow – and not to create any rifts that might place the delicate diplomatic negotiations over Syria in jeopardy.
It is for this reason that the Foreign Office is said to be deeply concerned about the likely impact of Sir Robert’s findings, with completed copies of the report having already been submitted to No 10 for the Prime Minister’s perusal. But just because British diplomats believe their main priority should be ending the Syria war, it does not mean that Vladimir Putin should be allowed to escape censure over his involvement in Mr Litvinenko’s murder.
“In a world that grows more unstable by the day, it is vital that we uphold the principles of international law and justice”
One of the Russian president’s less endearing features is that, when confronted with clear evidence of Russian wrong-doing, he simply reverts to bare-faced lies. He lied – when there was clear evidence to the contrary – that there were no Russian troops in Crimea when Moscow orchestrated its illegal annexation. And he continues to lie that Russia had nothing to do with the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, even though all the evidence points to it having been hit by a Russian-built Buk surface-to-air missile.
So few will be surprised if Mr Putin and his cronies simply dismiss Sir Robert’s findings as anti-Russian propaganda, no matter how painstaking the distinguished former judge has been in reaching his conclusions. If that is the case, then Mr Cameron will have no option but to take further punitive measures against Russia, irrespective of any damage it may or may not do to the Syrian talks.
For, in a world that grows more unstable by the day, it is vital that we uphold the principles of international law and justice. By far the best way of preventing further acts of aggression is to ensure that those responsible for committing heinous crimes are made to account for their actions.
FACT FILE
New facts we learnt from the Litvinenko inquiry
- Suspects Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun allegedly tried to kill Alexander Litvinenko not once but twice. The first dose administered, two weeks before the fatal dose, only made Mr Litvinenko sick and he thought he had food poisoning.
- The case is the only recorded example of deliberate polonium poisoning anywhere in the world.
- Mr Litvinenko only drank the poison-laced tea offered to him by the suspects on November 1 because he could not afford to buy his own in “such an expensive hotel”.
- Suspects Lugovoy and Kovtun did not realise how radioactive the poison was and left a trail of it through London like “the breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel”. Contamination readings in Lugovoy’s hotel room “off the scale”.
- Russian special forces used an image of Mr Litvinenko for target practice.
- In 2010, four years after the murder, Lugovoy sent Mr Litvinenko’s friend Boris Berezovsky a T-shirt with the “Polonium 210 — To Be Continued” and “Nuclear Death, Is Knocking Your Door”, emblazoned on it.
- On his deathbed, Mr Litvinenko told his 12-year-old son, Anatoly to look after his mother and “defend Britain to his last drop because it had saved his family”.
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/12109111/Britain-cant-let-Vladimir-Putin-get-away-with-murder.html
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