Widow of Alexander Litvinenko says world must stand firm against Putin’s ‘mafia state’

 
The widow of Alexander Litvinenko has said that Ukraine’s allies must stand firm to prevent his prophecy about Vladimir Putin unleashing war on the world from becoming reality.

Marina Litvinenko, speaking on the 17th anniversary of the former spy’s death, warned that Putin’s ‘mafia state’ must not be allowed to set an example for other authoritarian powers.   

She has adopted Ukraine’s plight in the face of the full-scale Russian invasion and is in the process of setting up a charity to help children in the country impacted by the war.   

Mr Litvinenko, who is known as Sasha by his wife, died on November 23, 2006 after being fatally poisoned at a London hotel by Russian agents Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun.  

In prescient words spoken almost two decades before the full-blown invasion, the former FSB and KGB officer predicted that Ukraine would suffer at the hands of ‘hooligan’ Putin, and other former Soviet countries would never be safe while he was in power.

Mrs Litvinenko told Metro.co.uk that the country’s Western allies must continue to stay the course in backing Kyiv’s grinding and resource-intensive fight against the Kremlin’s forces, before the war spills over the borders into NATO territories.   

‘Over 17 years, what Sasha said and tried to do has become very important.’ she said. ‘And now, after almost two years of the war in Ukraine, we can see his words coming true; that if Putin is not stopped there will be a war that will affect the whole world.  

‘To start a nuclear war would not be as simple as pushing the button, as the decision involves people and technology, and not everybody is as crazy as Putin. But a wider war that spreads into the Baltic countries would in Putin’s eyes reverse the “catastrophe” of the Soviet Union’s collapse and would be, for him, the best way to be remembered.’

Mr Litvinenko, an intelligence officer turned Kremlin opponent, died in a London hospital after being poisoned with radioactive isotope polonium-210. In 2016, a public inquiry concluded that the hit was probably carried out on Putin’s orders.  

As Ukraine slides out of the world’s glare amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, Kyiv’s fight remains a cause that Mrs Litvinenko, who lives in west London, continues to support.

She told Metro.co.uk that she is setting up a charity entitled Ukrainian Children in Need to support the victims of war who have been injured, displaced or deported since February 24 last year.  

‘If we give up on Ukraine, we give up on a place where people live freely and have the right to take part in democratic elections,’ Mrs Litvinenko said.

‘If we give up on Ukraine, it will be more difficult to defend democracy in other places.’  

While the war in Ukraine grinds on at huge cost to Russian life and economy, the conflict has exposed cracks in Putin’s grip on power, including through the Wagner group rebellion in June 2023.

In the meantime, Mr Litvinenko’s story continues to reach new ground as a powerful example of the Kremlin’s alleged murderous reach, including through the ITVX dramatisation starring David Tennant.  

The former intelligence officer’s wife remains unequivocal that Russia can have a better alternative to the current president.

‘We have to remember that Putin represents a concentration of the power in Russia,’ she said. ‘A corrupt system has been built over the last 23 years, which is like a mafia state.

‘But the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was Putin’s greatest mistake, it made people realise that he was not as strong as he appeared to be.   

‘It might collapse very quickly but people have to understand Russia won’t be better immediately after Putin’s death.

‘It might be worse, but it will get better.

‘There is the argument that it’s better to have Putin in place than risk something worse but without the system being destroyed there will never be anything different in Russia.’

Mrs Litvinenko, 61, has taken part in demonstrations against the Russian aggression and visited Ukraine, where she gave blood for soldiers wounded while resisting Moscow’s all-out attack. 

With Kyiv’s forces mired in exhausting conflict to the east and south of the country, the war continues to take a heavy toll on civilians. 

‘Setting up the charity is one of the most important things I feel I have to do,’ Mrs Litvinenko said. ‘War is not only about fighting on the frontline, it is damaging for all of humanity.

‘The children are the future of Ukraine and we need to think about them now; how they will survive, how they will be helped and how they will be educated. We are also talking about the stolen children in Russia as well as the children living in Europe.

‘We need to think about whether they are happy to come back to Ukraine and how we can keep the link between the children and their home country. This is something I will do a lot for in future.’

Mrs Litvinenko and son Anatoly plan to visit Alexander’s grave in Highgate Cemetery, north London, as they mark today’s anniversary in a low-key way.

‘This period takes me back to what happened and while some dates are difficult to recollect, I can still remember the day Sasha was poisoned and the day of his funeral,’ she said.

‘It is a very personal time, but I want people to remember Sasha and what he tried to say. Even when he was so ill in hospital, he told me to speak to the media, which I didn’t want to do, because he wanted people to know about what had happened to us.

‘He said it could even prevent war in the future. Even as he lay there in his hospital bed, he wanted to prevent worse things happening in the world.

‘He believed communication was a strong power and he was right. I’m not a politician or an activist, but through our story I am able to talk to people and spread the messages about what is happening in Russia and Ukraine.’  

Lugovoi has developed advanced prostate cancer, according to reports, following the death of Kovtun from Covid-19 last year.

Russia has always denied any involvement in Mr Litvinenko’s death.

Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk

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