Alexander Litvinenko
Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium-210 in London. A British inquiry concluded Russian President Putin probably approved the operation. Two suspects were identified.
- Status
- Solved
- Type
- Homicide
- Date
- November 23, 2006
- Location
- London, United Kingdom
- Age
- 43
- Gender
- Male
- Decade
- 2000s
- Open
- Partly resolved
- Charges or trial
- ClosedSolved
The case was resolved, for example through a posthumous DNA identification of the perpetrator or the person being found.
Case background and investigation
On November 1, 2006, former Russian FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who had defected to the UK and become a vocal critic of Putin, met two Russian contacts at the Millennium Hotel in London. He became violently ill that evening.
Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium-210, an extremely rare radioactive substance. It took doctors nearly three weeks to identify the poison. Litvinenko died on November 23 in University College Hospital.
On his deathbed, Litvinenko accused Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder. The British public inquiry and, in 2021, the European Court of Human Rights found that Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitri Kovtun carried out the poisoning; neither man was ever tried and both denied involvement.
A 2016 British public inquiry concluded that the operation was 'probably approved' by Putin and FSB director Nikolai Patrushev. Russia refused to extradite Lugovoy, who denies involvement; Kovtun, who also denied involvement, died in Moscow on June 4, 2022.
Timeline
-
November 1, 2006Litvinenko poisoned with polonium-210.
-
November 23, 2006Litvinenko dies.
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January 21, 2016Inquiry concludes Putin probably approved assassination.
Sources
References used for this entry. ColdCaseIndex is an index of public information. To report an error, email info@coldcaseindex.com.
About this entry
This case is recorded as solved and is kept in the index for its historical and investigative significance. The case was resolved, for example through a posthumous DNA identification of the perpetrator or the person being found.
To report an error on this page, email info@coldcaseindex.com.
Entry last updated September 29, 2026.
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