Claiming Alexander Litvinenko was a former KGB spy, news reports said he blamed Vladimir Putin for poisoning him with polonium.

The author, Luke Harding, is an experienced and professional investigative journalist, and one who gives the British Press a good name, unlike some of his trash-flogging colleagues. That evening, I was invited to the Emirates soccer stadium in north London to see the London team Arsenal play the Russian champions CSKA Moscow. The judge also confirmed Litvinenko’s own insistence that the Kremlin elite stood behind the murder. Litvinenko’s former wife, his widow and three orphans stood in silence as the Muslim prayers droned on.Although the two suspects – Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun – still live freely in Russia, Owen ruled that their guilt was beyond doubt.

These include: the apparent suicide in October 2011 of former oligarch Boris Berezovsky in London; the November 2012 death of businessman Alexander Perepilichnyy, in Surrey, of apparent poisoning; and the spring 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Whilst I can see that the authors were extremely anxious to publish all the evidence that they had and reveal this shocking story of choreographed wars and the establishment of the gangster state, this vitally important book would have benefitted greatly by some severe editing and restructuring to make it more readable and accessible. I thought the author did a wonderful job with respect to the different countries and different people involved I just really enjoyed this book I read it all in one day as soon as I got it and found it also very interesting. In conclusion, A Very Expensive Poison is a hugely accomplished work and leaves the reader in little doubt that Putin and his chums are little more than underworld dons who have hijacked an entire state.

He was a former officer of the Russian secret police, and he had been poisoned with a radioactive substance.