Murder at the Polonium, the Litvinenko affair: a look back at this affair which shook the United Kingdom


In 2006, Alexander Litvinenko died of poisoning with polonium-210, a radioactive substance. Almost 20 years later, M6 devoted a series to this sordid story.

From this Thursday evening, M6 will broadcast the first two episodes of Murder at Polonium – The Litvinenko Affair, a mini-series carried by David Tennant (Broadchurch, Doctor Who), which looks back on the assassination by Russia of Alexander Livtinenko.

This former Russian secret service agent and whistleblower was poisoned by a radioactive substance in 2006. For nearly ten years, his wife, Marina Litvinenko, fought for recognition of Russia’s involvement in the death of her husband. To understand the stakes of this series, a little backtracking is necessary.

Alexander “Sasha” Litvinenko is a former Russian secret service agent, ex-Lieutenant Colonel of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), a counterintelligence service of Russia.

In 1998, he and four of his FSB colleagues publicly declared at a press conference that their superiors had ordered the assassination of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Statements that will earn him to be sacked and prosecuted by the FSB. He decides to flee with his wife and son to London, where he asks for asylum, which will be granted to him in May 2001.

While in the UK, he spoke out openly against Russia, teaming up with Berezovsky to campaign against the Russian government. It was later discovered that Alexander Litvinenko had worked with the British secret service to investigate links between Spain and the Russian mafia. He was also supposed to fly to Spain with another former Russian agent, Andrey Lugovoy, but he was never able to make the trip.

Just days before leaving for Spain, on November 1, 2006, Litvinenko did indeed reunite with Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, another former Russian spy, for tea in a central London hotel. Only a few hours after this meeting, Alexander Litvinenko falls ill.

Polonium murder on M6: what is this series on the Litvinenko affair with David Tennant worth?

Three days later, the 43-year-old man was admitted to Barnet General Hospital in London, where his condition gradually worsened. Doctors at University College Hospital, to which he was transferred, discovered that Litvinenko had been poisoned by a radioactive substance, polonium 210.

On his deathbed, he summons the police to report his murder, and declares that Vladimir Putin would have ordered his assassination. Alexander Litvinenko died on November 23, 2006, three weeks after ingesting the poison.

On January 20, 2007, British police announced that they had identified the man they believed to be responsible for Litvinenko’s poisoning after seeing footage of the suspect at Heathrow Airport.

Investigators also discovered a teapot with traces of polonium-210, the radioactive substance that killed Litvinenko, in the hotel where he had found the two Russian agents. Scotland Yard police therefore conclude that Alexander’s murder was orchestrated by Russia.

A police investigation ensued, during which British agents were sent to Moscow to question the alleged suspects, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun. On the spot, one of the agents, Brian Tapey, claimed that the members of his team had been poisoned “with something like gastroenteritis”.

Following their investigation, the police concluded that the former Russian spy Lugovoy had administered the lethal dose of polonium-210. The detectives in charge of the case indeed found traces of the radioactive substance in the hotel rooms in which Kovtun and Lugovoy had stayed in London.

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In May 2007, the British government requested Lugovoy’s extradition to England for the murder of Litvinenko. The former agent will however deny his involvement and reject the accusation on the British secret service of MI6, which would have wanted, according to him, to get rid of a cumbersome investigator. Russia will refuse the extradition request in July 2007.

In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights found Russia responsible for Litvinenko’s murder and ordered Moscow to pay €100,000 (£85,000) in damages to his widow, Marina Litvinenko.



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