crackerjack
Well-Known Member
Poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has died in hospital. He and his friends and supporters were convinced the Russian government had poisoned him after he fell ill earlier this month.
In an interview conducted just before he died, he said: "The b*stards got me, but they won't get everybody."
The 43-year-old ex-KGB agent had been given asylum and citizenship in Britain after fleeing Russia.
His supporters have said he was killed by Russian agents because he was investigating
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the murder last month of dissident investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead near her Moscow apartment.
The Kremlin has called the accusation "sheer nonsense".
The Metropolitan Police have now launched an investigation into "an unexplained death".
It emerged that hours before he slipped into unconsciousness, Mr Litvinenko told his friend, filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov, that he knew his battle against the mystery poison may fail but the campaign for truth would go on with or without him.
"I want to survive just to show them," he said.
He suggested his poisoning was proof the Kremlin was targeting the right people.
He continued: "This is what it takes to prove one has been telling the truth."
Mr Nekrasov told The Times his friend's ward had looked "like a scene from the Godfather", and all visitors were screened by armed police before being ushered into the darkened intensive care room where Mr Litvinenko lay in excruciating pain in the days before his death.
Mr Nekrasov told The Times: "Sasha [Mr Litvinenko] was a good-looking, physically strong and courageous man, but the figure who greeted me looked like a survivor from the Nazi concentration camps.
"We discussed the likelihood of another killing. Sasha warned me not to go back to Russia because it was too dangerous.
"Very sadly he turned out to be the next victim, attacked in the perceived safety of central London."
In an interview conducted just before he died, he said: "The b*stards got me, but they won't get everybody."
The 43-year-old ex-KGB agent had been given asylum and citizenship in Britain after fleeing Russia.
His supporters have said he was killed by Russian agents because he was investigating
ADVERTISEMENT
the murder last month of dissident investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead near her Moscow apartment.
The Kremlin has called the accusation "sheer nonsense".
The Metropolitan Police have now launched an investigation into "an unexplained death".
It emerged that hours before he slipped into unconsciousness, Mr Litvinenko told his friend, filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov, that he knew his battle against the mystery poison may fail but the campaign for truth would go on with or without him.
"I want to survive just to show them," he said.
He suggested his poisoning was proof the Kremlin was targeting the right people.
He continued: "This is what it takes to prove one has been telling the truth."
Mr Nekrasov told The Times his friend's ward had looked "like a scene from the Godfather", and all visitors were screened by armed police before being ushered into the darkened intensive care room where Mr Litvinenko lay in excruciating pain in the days before his death.
Mr Nekrasov told The Times: "Sasha [Mr Litvinenko] was a good-looking, physically strong and courageous man, but the figure who greeted me looked like a survivor from the Nazi concentration camps.
"We discussed the likelihood of another killing. Sasha warned me not to go back to Russia because it was too dangerous.
"Very sadly he turned out to be the next victim, attacked in the perceived safety of central London."
