Alexander Litvinenko’s Moscow fallout

The inquiry into Alexander Litvinenko’s death found there were “powerful motives” for organisations and individuals within the Russian state to take action against him.

Here are some of his clashes with Moscow:  

Alleged instructions to assassinate Boris Berezovsky: In 1998 Mr Litvinenko took the extraordinary decision to blow the whistle on an alleged FSB plot to murder prominent tycoon Mr Berezovsky, culminating in a press conference in which he publicly denounced the agency in front of the world’s media.

The report said Mr Litvinenko was “regarded as having betrayed the FSB”.

Books: Mr Litvinenko co-authored two books following his arrival in Britain.

Blowing Up Russia, published in 2001, asserted that a number of apartment bombings in September 1999, which killed hundreds and were officially blamed on Chechen separatists, were actually the work of the FSB.

Another book, The Gang From The Lubyanka, set out allegations of corruption and involvement in organised crime.

The report said the idea of betrayal was “compounded” by Mr Litvinenko’s campaigning in Britain.

Links to other Kremlin critics: Mr Litvinenko was an associate of Boris Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakayev, both of whom were leading opponents of the Putin administration.

Criticism of President Putin: Mr Litvinenko made a string of personal attacks on the Russian leader in the years after their only face-to- face meeting in 1998.

The most dramatic allegation came in an article Mr Litvinenko wrote in July 2006 accusing President Putin of paedophilia.

His article recounted a meeting between Mr Putin and a boy “aged four or five” in a square near the Kremlin.

“Putin kneeled, lifted the boy’s T-shirt and kissed his stomach,” Mr Litvinenko wrote.

The former FSB agent claimed there were “blank spots” in Mr Putin’s career that could be explained by his superiors’ alleged knowledge “that he was a paedophile”.

Just days before he fell ill, Litvinenko accused Mr Putin of responsibility for the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Work for the intelligence agencies: The inquiry was told Litvinenko became involved with MI6 after arriving in Britain, receiving regular payments for consultancy work.