Litvinenko inquiry to be announced

22 July 2014 Last updated at 09:33

An inquiry will be held into the death of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, the Home Secretary Theresa May is expected to announce.

Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB officer, died in 2006 in a London hospital after he was allegedly poisoned with radioactive polonium.

The investigation is set to examine whether the Russian state was behind his death.

Mrs May is due to publish a written statement to Parliament later.

Mr Litvinenko, 43, died after he was poisoned with radioactive polonium while drinking tea with two Russian men, one a former KGB officer, at a London hotel.

His family believe he was working for MI6 at the time of his death and was killed on the orders of the Kremlin.

A government spokeswoman said: "An announcement in relation to the death of Alexander Litvinenko is due to be made on Tuesday morning.

"We will provide no further details until an announcement has been made to the House."

The Litvinenko case

1 Nov 2006 - Alexander Litvinenko has tea with former agents Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun in London
4 Nov 2006 - After three days of vomiting he is admitted to hospital, and dies 22 days later. His death is attributed to radiation poisoning
May 2007 - The UK decides Mr Lugovoi should be charged with the murder of Mr Litvinenko. He denies any involvement but says Mr Litvinenko was a British spy
5 Jul 2007 - Russia officially refuses to extradite Mr Lugovoi, prompting a diplomatic row
20 Sept 2012 - Pre-inquest review hears that Russia's links to the death will be probed
May-June 2013 - Inquest into Mr Litvinenko's death delayed as coroner decides a public inquiry would be preferable
Jan 2014 - Marina Litvinenko in High Court fight to force a public inquiry
11 Feb 2014 - High Court says the Home Office had been wrong to rule out an inquiry before the outcome of an inquest

The expected announcement comes after the government had previously resisted calls for a public inquiry, saying it would first "wait and see" what a judge-led inquest found.

However, in 2013 a coroner ruled that a public inquiry - which could have wider powers than an inquest - would be better placed to establish how Mr Litvinenko died.

Ministers still refused to launch an inquiry, which prompted a legal challenge by Mr Litvinenko's widow, Marina.

She said only a public inquiry would uncover the Russian state's alleged role in her husband's 2006 death from radiation poisoning.

In February, the High Court said the Home Office had been wrong to rule out an inquiry before the outcome of an inquest.

Analysis from BBC political editor Nick Robinson

Whitehall sources say that the timing of an announcement of a public inquiry into whether the Russian state was responsible for the murder of the dissident Andrei Litvinenko is pure coincidence.

The police and security services concluded a long time ago that this was a state-sponsored murder.

The former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Lord MacDonald has said as much in public.

However, the home secretary has been resisting calls for an inquiry from the Litvinenko family and the inquest judge, citing "international relations".

Those reasons seem to no longer be quite so pressing.

Sarapan Oatmeal