The Economist: Death of a Londoner
A file photo taken on May 23, 2007, shows a visitor as she looks at a painting showing former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in his hosital bed in London, by painters Dmitry Vrubel and Viktoria Timofeyeva, in the Marat Guelman gallery in Moscow. (AFP)
On Nov. 1st 2006 Marina Litvinenko cooked a special dinner for her husband, Alexander, to mark the sixth anniversary of their arrival in Britain from Russia (and their first since becoming citizens). In the early hours of November 2nd the spy-turned-dissident started vomiting. In hospital his condition deteriorated: his hair fell out, his skin turned yellow and he threw up parts of his stomach. After 20 days of agony he composed a statement blaming his poisoning on Vladimir Putin. He died of heart failure shortly afterwards.
