The former SSC agent Alexander Litvinenko died on the evening of November 23 at the hospital of London’s Universal-college. He had escaped from Russia with his family in 2000. He was charged with three cases in Russia and was sentenced in 2002 for taking advantage of his official ranking. He was considered to be one of the close friends of Boris Berezovski. In 2006, he was granted citizenship of Great Britain.
Litvinenko was poisoned by an unknown substance after he had met with two Russians on November 1 and one of those Russians was a former SSC official. After that meeting, he had met with an Italian scientist by the name of Maria Skaramello and, according to foreign media, he had received documents, which stated the names of the assassins of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. After a couple of hours, Litvinenko felt bad and went to the hospital. Experts say that Litvinenko was poisoned by a radioactive substance, but one of them told Reuters that “perhaps it won’t be possible to clarify the formula of the substance”. On Saturday, British presses published the last words of Litvinenko: “Those imbecils caught me, but they can’t catch everyone.” On Friday, The Times published the announcement of one of the assistants of Russian President Vladimir Putin: “This, of course, is a big tragedy. They poisoned the man, but the accusations against the Kremlin are uncalled for and lame and that’s why the president is not making any comment.” Scotland Yard has announced that the case is looked at as a “death based on unknown reasons”.
The statement signed by Litvinenko was read on November 24. Litvinenko’s close friend Alexander Goldfarb read the announcement on British television, which reads: “I think it’s time to say a couple of words to the person who is responsible for the situation I am in. Perhaps you will be able to shut me up, but you’ll pay a price for that. You proved that you are the barbarians as the critics present you as. You proved that you don’t deserve that ranking or the trust of civilized people. May God forgive you, Mr. Putin, for all that you have done not only to me, but to the people of Russia.” Goldfarb read the announcement on live television. Moscow denies that the Kremlin has anything to do with the assassination. “Any death is a tragedy and now it’s up to the British police to find out what happened,” said head of Vladimir Putin’s press department director Dmitri Peskov. “As for the accusations, Moscow has nothing to do with it: We have already announced that that’s absurd.”