Spy death: UK minister blames Kremlin

RASHMEE ROSHAN LALL / TNN / Nov 28, 2006, 01:22 IST

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Officials in the British capital, where the 43-year-old former KGB colonel died a painful death by poisoning, said the 'expectation' was for an inquest.

LONDON: A mounting diplomatic crisis between Britain and Russia has burst into the open on Monday with a senior member of Tony Blair's cabinet publicly condemning the "murky murders" of President Putin's regime; the British home secretary making an emergency parliamentary statement on the "suspicious death" of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko and London authorities confirming they would hold an inquest into the Russian's alleged poisoning by a toxic and rare radioactive metal Polonium 210.
Officials in the British capital, where the 43-year-old former KGB colonel died a painful death by poisoning, said the "expectation" was for an inquest on Thursday. Meanwhile, in the first, public criticism of Putin's Russia by a leading member of the British government, cabinet minister Peter Hain hinted at possible Kremlin involvement in Litvinenko's death four days ago.
Hain, who is currently Northern Ireland secretary and is a declared contender for deputy leadership of the governing Labour Party, voiced his criticism of Putin even as his cabinet colleague, home secretary John Reid admitted British police were treating Litvinenko's death as "suspicious".
Hain said, in what political commentators described as significantly unbuttoned remarks, that he condemned "murky murders" that had taken place in Putin's Russia.

He also criticised "huge attacks" on individual freedoms and democracy in Russia. He said, in remarks thought likely to embarrass Tony Blair who has long courted Putin as a friend and ally, that "The promise that President Putin brought to Russia when he came to power has been clouded by what has happened since, including some extremely murky murders."
He added that the attacks on democracy and individual liberty in Russia had overshadowed Putin's success in "binding a disintegrating nation together"and achieving stability from an economy which had been collapsing into "Mafioso-style chaos". Hain said, "It's important he retakes the democratic road in my view".

The Kremlin has described the increasingly high-pitched allegations coming out of European capitals as ridiculous and Putin himself has said the death was being used for "political provocation".
Till now, Scotland Yard had described the death as "unexplained", even though they have submitted a formal request to Moscow for any information that might assist in their investigations.
The circumstances surrounding the death of Litvinenko, who passed away last Thursday after apparently being poisoned on or around November 1, have inflamed the habitually-testy relationship between London and Moscow.

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