Public Inquiry Into Death Of Former KGB Agent Litvinenko Starts

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

A British court is breathing new life into the case of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy turned outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. Litvinenko was poisoned with radioactive Polonium 210 in a London hotel on November 1, 2006. He died in the intensive ward of a London hospital 22 days later, and he blamed Putin for his death. Joining us now is Alan Cowell of The New York Times, who is covering the inquiry. He also wrote a book about the life and death of Alexander Litvinenko called "The Terminal Spy." Welcome to the program.

ALAN COWELL: Thank you.

SIEGEL: Well, what have you learned from the inquiry into the death of Litvinenko so far?

COWELL: Well, compared to what we knew before and what was reported at the time, there's a clear assertion by counsel for the inquiry that there were two attempts on Mr. Litvinenko's life - 1 two weeks before the other. One was possibly something like a trial run, which he didn't ingest a lot of polonium, and the second one when he clearly ingested a dose that made his death absolutely inevitable.

SIEGEL: And why is the British government opening an inquiry into this case now as opposed to when it happened in 2006?

COWELL: Well, there's been a lot of reluctance on the part of the British government over the years to allow any kind of close scrutiny of what happened because there is so much involvement behind the scenes by intelligence agencies. And for a long time, of course, there was a feeling, as there was with President Obama, that it was possible to make a kind of reset with President Putin and there was a desire in the British government, led by David Cameron, not to rock the boat. And indeed the present inquiry in the High Court is the result of a compromise because there will be a public inquiry most of the time. But a lot of sensitive testimony will be heard in secret. And even the judges' final summing up later this year will not refer directly to matters that the British government say are matters of national security.

SIEGEL: Is part of Britain's sensitivity about all this that Alexander Litvinenko, having been a Russian spy, was, I gather, working for British intelligence also before he died?

COWELL: Well, before he died he was working for the British intelligence. That's what his widow's lawyer says. The focus of what he investigated was the link between the Kremlin and various organized crime groups. And that is where people are beginning to see some kind of smoking gun, that he turned against the KGB in his success at the FSB. He was a blow whistleblower before he fled from Russia in 2000. And from self-exile he was a vitriolic critic of Mr. Putin. He did not hesitate to accuse his former employer, the FSB, of corruption and malfeasance.

SIEGEL: You've been working on the Litvinenko story for a long time. I mean, what are the biggest or most interesting questions that you would hope to hear answered by this inquiry?

COWELL: I think if there is anything that comes anywhere near conclusive evidence of how the polonium itself got from the very controlled world of the Russian nuclear industry and into a teapot in London, that would answer a lot of the questions about who was responsible for it and who ordered it.

SIEGEL: Alen Cowell, thank you very much for talking with us.

COWELL: Thank you, Robert.

SIEGEL: That's Alan Cowell of The New York Times talking to us from London, where he's following the inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko back in 2006. Mr. Cowell is also the author of a book about the case called "The Terminal Spy." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.