Putin 'knew of poison plot' that killed former KGB spy in London: Latest WikiLeaks revelations

By David Gardner
Last updated at 3:39 AM on 2nd December 2010

Accused: Wikileaks documents suggest Vladimir Putin knew about the assassination

Russian leader Vladimir Putin probably knew about the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, according to a top American diplomat.

The Kremlin has adamantly denied any involvement in the 2006 murder, but a remark by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried in a new batch of diplomatic cables released last night suggests that Mr Putin would almost certainly have known about the assassination.

Litvinenko’s deathbed accusations that the then Russian president was behind his radiation poisoning made headlines around the world.

He claimed he was targeted after exposing the Russian secret service’s violent activities in helping Mr Putin’s rise to power.

But the comments by Mr Fried, included in the latest Wikileaks documents, represent the first time anyone in such a senior position has pointed the finger at Mr Putin, however obliquely.

In the cable, Mr Fried questioned whether - 'noting Putin’s attention to detail' – 'rogue security elements could operate in the UK no less, without Putin’s knowledge.'

Arguing that the French should take a tougher line with Moscow, he said the Russians were behaving with 'increasing self-confidence to the point of arrogance.'

He was speaking just two weeks after the Russian dissident died an agonising death in a London hospital from polonium-210 radiation poisoning.

During talks in Paris with a senior adviser to then French President Jacques Chirac, he said there were 'increasing indications that the UK investigation into the murder of Litvinenko could well point to some sort of Russian involvement.'

Poisoned: Alexander Litvinenko died on November 23, 2006 in an intensive care ward, London's University College Hospital

The cables were just part of a set of new messages released last night that painted Russia as being awash in corruption, with government officials, oligarchs and gangsters working hand-in-hand to create a 'virtual mafia state.'

American diplomats claim political bribery alone in Moscow accounts for almost £200billion a year.