#MarinaLitvinenko

[llewelynpritch]

https://lnkd.in/df-GkYwr  'PUTIN SET OUT TO MAKE SURE THIS STORY WAS NEVER TOLD' As he plays the murdered spy in a new drama, the actor and Marina Litvinenko talk corruption, justice and hope. Alexander Litvinenko saw the horror coming, but nobody listened. Known to his family and friends as “Sasha”, the former Federal Security Service (FSB) agent, who was lethally poisoned in London in 2006, apparently by Russian spies, warned of the grave consequences of ignoring the threat posed by President Vladimir Putin.

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' “In an article he wrote in 2006,” Litvinenko’s widow Marina tells me, “just a few days before he was fatally poisoned, Sasha wrote: ‘If you don’t stop this monster, he will start a war and millions of people will die.’ Now, finally, it is happening.” Sixteen years after Litvinenko’s final warning, the Russian president mounted an unjustified invasion of Ukraine.

Litvinenko, who had exposed Russian corruption before escaping from his homeland with Marina and their young son Anatoly in 2000, was equally prescient in his deathbed message, which directly addressed the president: “You may succeed in silencing one man, but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.”

This deathbed statement, read by a close friend on the pavement outside University College Hospital moments after the former Russian spy had passed away, is one of many chilling moments in Litvinenko, a new four-part drama that begins on Thursday ... 15 December 2022 ... on ITV’s streaming platform ITVX. Written by Lupin showrunner George Kay, the drama recounts not only the murder, but the subsequent, tireless campaign by his widow to find justice for him.

“The story feels important on a geopolitical scale,” says David Tennant, who stars as Litvinenko, playing him with a kind of rare intensity. “It reveals the terrible truth of what was attempted by this gangster who happens to have all this power. It also shows the wonderful victory – and I use that word advisedly – that exists within this. What Putin set out to do was to make sure this story was never told. So it feels that the most important thing we can do is to tell the story again and again and again because that way, Putin loses.” '

'Ultimately, the focus of Litvineko is Marina’s ceaseless campaign for justice for her murdered husband. Over the last 16 years, she has refused to give up, even though she has been consistently stone-walled by successive British governments that appear to value business interests above human rights.

“Unfortunately,” Smith sighs, “as much as there are bullies in Russia, there are also bullies in this country. The British Government felt unable at times to allow an inquiry to go ahead because they felt like there were bigger interests at play, let’s just say.”

It was the “relentless” determination of Marina and her legal team, he adds, and the “flawless” work from the Metropolitan Police that meant the British Government couldn’t avoid the case any longer. “It became inevitable that there had to be an inquiry and they could no longer ignore what was an absolutely obvious truth.”

In a revelation that will surprise no one, Marina says that over the past 16 years it has been extremely hard to get any sense out of British politicians. “All this time, I’ve tried to talk to politicians. I never expected to be so experienced working with the justice system and with politicians! It was Labour in the beginning, and then it was the Conservatives. I just started to realise that everybody has their own agenda.”

Then, “in 2010 and 11, people started to tell me: ‘Marina, they’re not sure you will have justice in the end because the political climate is different.’ I just couldn’t believe it. How is that possible?”

But she did finally persuade the UK Government to hold a public inquiry in 2016. It decided that the murder of Litvinenko was committed by Lugovoi and Kovtun, probably with Putin’s approval.'

' “I’ve talked to many politicians,” says Marina. “I have respect for some and a lot of critical opinions of others. But I believe they must watch this drama. What’s happening now in Ukraine must change political attitudes. They can’t any more just look for a balance between commercial interest and human lives. That approach needs to end because human lives and human rights are the values of democracy. This is a checkpoint for democracy in the world.”

If the inspiring Marina has one desire for Litvinenko, it would be that it pushes viewers to battle for their own causes. “I’ve heard many times how this story has helped people to fight for their own reasons.”

For all that, she concludes, “this is not only a political story, it’s not only a crime story, it’s a human story. It’s a story of love. It’s a story of hope.”

James Rampton 13 December 2022

[berlinbrent]

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She lost her husband in a murder the #Kremlin knew about. Who or what does #MarinaLitvinenko trust, in wake of #Novichok death, to check the power & #propaganda of #Putin? dw.com/theday @dw_politics