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Litvinenko widow asks Putin to find killers
Last updated at 22:52pm on 03.02.07
The widow of murdered former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko has made a desperate plea to Russian president Vladimir Putin to bring her husband's killers to justice.
In a letter sent to the Russian leader, Marina Litvinenko warns Mr Putin that if he does not assist the UK authorities in finding them, she will assume he must 'have something to hide'.
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The development comes as the Crown Prosecution Service studies the results of an international investigation by Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch into the horrific death of 43-year-old Mr Litvinenko.
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He died in a London hospital on November 23 last year after being poisoned with polonium 210, a highly toxic radioactive poison. His death came three weeks after he met a number of Russians in London.
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British police have privately complained of poor co-operation from the Russians when they visited Moscow in December.
Mrs Litvinenko, 44, who called her husband by his pet name 'Sasha', is under police protection at a safe house.
Her letter says: "I must find out who killed Sasha. I ask that you instruct your officials to assist in bringing the murderers to justice. I have never said that I knew you were ultimately responsible. I said that if you did not make every effort to assist in the discovery of the perpetrators of this terrible crime, I could only assume that you must have something to hide."
