Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko

The poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko is the 2006 case in which a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service, who had defected to the United Kingdom in late 2000, was poisoned on 1 November 2006, hospitalised, and died on 23 November. He became the first confirmed victim of lethal polonium-210-induced acute radiation syndrome. His public deathbed accusations that President Putin was behind the poisoning brought worldwide media coverage. British investigations led to serious diplomatic difficulties between the British and Russian governments. In September 2021 the European Court of Human Rights held Russia responsible for the killing, finding beyond reasonable doubt that Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun carried it out, in line with a 2016 UK inquiry.