Who killed Alexander Litvinenko?

Ann Curry • Profile

Paul Joyal, Russia expert, security consultant: A message has been communicated to anyone who wants to speak out against the Kremlin: “If you do, no matter who you are, where you are, we will find you and we will silence you—in the most horrible way possible”.

This haunting image of a figure in his hospital bed has become a world famous picture of tortured suffering.

It tells the chilling story of a man who took on the powerful and was silenced. He believed he was fighting for justice and made scandalous accusations that struck right at the heart of the Kremlin. But he ended up in a real-life spy story of political intrigue, conspiracy and murder.

Joyal: It’s just unprecedented.

Disturbing mysteries involving Russia and politics are nothing new: Georgi Markov, the dissident writer was murdered with a poison pellet from an umbrella; Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukranian presidential candidate was poisoned; Paul Khlebnikov, an American business journalist, was gunned down.

But what happened in london may be even more sinister.

Joyal: He was a citizen of the United Kingdom. That has to mean something—that you shall be safe from this type of political retribution.

Six years before that photo was snapped, the same man, Alexander Litvinenko, left his home in Russia to start a fresh life in England.

Joyal: I was fascinated with the guy.

Security consultant Paul Joyal, who is a Russia expert critical of the Kremlin, struck up a friendship with Alexander in visits to London.

Ann Curry, Dateline anchor: And what was your impression?

Joyal: He was full of life.  He was strong-willed, obviously. He was very courageous.

In London, Alexander, his wife, and their son were taken under the wing of a Russian tycoon who set them up with a modest home in the suburbs and supported Alexander’s freelance writing career. Marina, a ballroom dance teacher, enrolled their son Anatoly in an international school.

Marina Litvinenko, Alexander's wife: We felt very safe in London, very protected.

Curry: Free?

Marina Litvinenko: Free. Yes.

November 1, 2006, Marina says her husband “Sasha”, as she called him, planned to spend most of the day in central London and come home to a cozy meal.

Marina Litvinenko:  Sasha just told me he will have some meetings in town.   

But she had no idea that what would happen that day would turn out to be deadly and have far-reaching consequences.

That evening, after dinner, Alexander was suddenly queasy.

Marina Litvinenko: He just first time started to complain he felt not very good.  And I was surprised, because he complained about sickness.

Curry: You mean like a severe stomach—

Marina Litvinenko: Exactly.  It was every 20 minutes, it was vomit.  He was—everything was very unusual.

It was unusual because she’d eaten the same food as her husband and she felt fine. And Alexander, a 43-year-old health nut who often went for 10-mile runs, rarely got sick.

Assuming he’d come down with the flu, she gave him water and occasionally checked his temperature.

But the following day, his condition became even more troubling.

Marina Litvinenko: And he started to complain about pain in his body, in his stomach.

Curry: How much pain was he in?

Marina Litvinenko: I think it was very strong.

Marina says her husband was so sick he came to a startling conclusion: that someone had poisoned him.

Marina Litvinenko: Poisoning— "No, Sasha. It’s not possible."

Curry: He suspected the second day—

Marina Litvinenko: It’s could be—

Curry: --that he was poisoned.

Marina Litvinenko: Yes.

Marina called for an ambulance and her husband was admitted to the hospital. Doctors immediately suspected he was fighting a gastric flu, but Marina says her husband continued to insist he’d been poisoned.

Curry: Did he say this to the doctors at the hospital?

Marina Litvinenko: Yes.

Curry: And did they believe him?

Marina Litvinenko: No.

Curry: They didn’t believe him.

Litvinenko: They look at us like crazy people.  You know?

Dan McGrory, reporter for the London Times: The doctors threw up their arms and said:  “We don’t know what he’s got.  He’s got something.  This is not explicable by any means that we know.”

Dan McGrory of the London times says it took doctors two weeks to concede Alexander was suffering from some kind of poisoning. So they transferred him to a hospital specializing in toxicology which sent his samples to scientists at a special lab. 

McGrory: And they tested for every possible poison you can think of and tested again and again, and they were coming up with no answers.  All they could tell was this was a man whose entire internal organs were collapsing faster than they’d ever seen.

As his life ebbed away, Alexander continued to issue even more extraordinary claims from his hospital bed. Not only had someone deliberately poisoned him, he said, but it was the work of foreign spies, an assassination conspiracy—and he claimed he knew who was behind it. His allegations soon appeared in the press, and brought British counter terrorism police to his bedside.

McGrory: The police, full of disbelief, had to take seriously the fact that here was a hitherto healthy individual who was now virtually incapacitated. 

They tried to question the now ghost-like figure, but it was frustrating work.

McGrory: The police said, “We interviewed him for three hours” if you ask them how much they got out of that three hours - maybe 5-10 minutes of useful information.  He needed to rest, he couldn’t speak for long.

Curry: Did anyone talk about how much he suffered?

Joyal: Just that he suffered greatly as you can imagine.

Curry: Tremendous pain.

Joyal: Mm-hmm (affirms).

Three weeks of hospital care did nothing to stop Alexander’s decline. He lost 30 lbs., put on 30 years... and his hope faded.

Joyal: His words were, “Well, the bastards got me.”

And as he slipped into a coma, he was hooked up to life support.

Marina Litvinenko: His skin changed color. When I saw him last time he was warm, you know.  I could touch him, and I could feel him.  (Crying)

Alexander had endured 22 days of the most intense suffering, but died of heart failure caused by a vicious poison.

It was a testament to his excellent physical shape that this freelance writer survived so long, or else his story might have died with him—the secret of his poisoning taken to his grave.

Just two hours before he passed away scientists at the special lab at last discovered the poison which killed Alexander Litvinenko.

One mystery was solved, but another was about to begin.

What the scientists revealed shocked the world, opened up a trail of intrigue, and started an international murder investigation.

McGrory: The police had to say this was the first in their experience, and it was an act of nuclear terrorism.

MORE FROM 'LAST DAYS OF A SECRET AGENT'

'Last Days of a Secret Agent' Section Front

Who killed Alexander Litvinenko? Assassins likely to escape justice Share your theories Interactive: Investigate the case yourself Read Litvinenko's deathbed statement See a timeline Fact File: Suspicious deaths in Russia 'Last Days of a Secret Agent' Section Front   Add 'Last Days of a Secret Agent' headlines to your news reader: