2015年经济学人 利特维年科案的调查 扑朔迷离的谋杀案（在线收听）

The Litvinenko inquiry

Murder most mystifying

Truth, perhaps, about a Kremlin hit-job—but little prospect of justice

AN OBSCURE refugee from Russia when he died in London in 2006, Alexander Litvinenko became famous only after his death. 

The former security policeman mixed with murky figures. He had received an allowance from a fugitive Russian tycoon, Boris Berezovsky. 

He was advising Britain's Secret Intelligence Service in an Anglo-Spanish operation which investigated links between Russian gangsterdom and the Kremlin's inner circle.

He had made lurid allegations about Vladimir Putin's private life and about the way the Russian leader had gained power. 

Any of those could have a bearing on his agonising fate—poisoning with polonium.

Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina has fought a dogged, dignified and cash-strapped battle for a public inquiry into the case. 

The government blocked this, citing unspecified national-security concerns. But it flip-flopped in July 2014 as Britain's relations with Russia iced over. 

The inquiry began this week. Mrs Litvinenko's lawyer spoke of an “act of nuclear terrorism” on London's streets.

Some evidence will be heard in secret: it may involve Mr Litvinenko's ties with Britain's spooks, 

but the most vital bit is thought to be an intercept of a Russian official communication, obtained by America and shared with Britain, 

showing that the Kremlin knew and approved of the murder plot. Officials decline to comment on that.

Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, whom Britain's authorities named as the assassins, are in Moscow; they insist they are innocent and will not be taking part.