[BBC]
“Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian security officer who has died in a London hospital after apparently being poisoned, was a fierce critic of Russia’s government.”
“Born in the Russian city of Voronezh, Mr Litvinenko first became a security agent in the FSB’s predecessor, the Soviet-era KGB, after transferring from the military. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.”
“He is reported to have fallen out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, then head of the FSB, in the late 1990s, after failing to crack down on corruption within the organisation.”
“Mr Litvinenko is thought to have been close to journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead last month in Moscow, and said recently he was investigating her murder.”
“She was another opponent of the Kremlin, and particularly the war in Chechnya.”
“In 1998, Mr Litvinenko first came to prominence by exposing an alleged plot to assassinate the then powerful tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who himself now lives in self-imposed exile in the UK.”
“Mr Litvinenko wrote a book in which he alleged Federal Security Service (FSB) agents in Russia coordinated the 1999 apartment block bombings in the country that killed more than 300 people.”
“The attacks helped swing public opinion behind Russia’s second war in the breakaway Chechen republic, which began with a huge Russian military offensive later that year.”
“Appearing alongside high-profile opponents of Mr Putin, Mr Litvinenko continued to make allegations about his former bosses.”
“Perhaps most notably, he alleged that al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri was trained by the FSB in Dagestan in the years before the 9/11 attacks.”
Read more: Obituary: Alexander Litvinenko
Related: Blowing up Russia (video)
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