Unfortunately,
Mr Litvinenko is not Lazarus. Would you introduce yourself? My name is Alexander Litvinenko. I was a lieutenant colonel
in the FSB, the Russian Secret Service. I'm now living in England
with my family, after being granted
political asylum. This is where we buried him. It was cold, and it rained. Did he tell you what kind
of headstone he wanted? No, we didn't talk about it.
We thought he'd live. Right up to the last second
I was sure he'd pull through. Bet he died. It happened all the same. Death caught up with him
too soon. Putin's long arms managed
to grab him after all. I knew they were one big gang. I saw no difference between
our officers and the gangsters, the criminal organisation
we had to fight against. The difference is that
the gangsters had no official power,
but the officers did. So I knew I was in a gang.
I soon realised that. But even in the West
you can't just leave a gang. Is that an English flag?
He loved England. England was his second home England granted him asylum.
He loved it here. That stuff left traces
everywhere. They had instruments
to measure it. In his house too? Yes, that's why
no one can go inside. He thought
he'd be left in peace. He was an English citizen. He had a passport. Marina showed
the passports to me. Alexander's, or Sasha's,
and hers. They had dual nationality. We never thought
they'd dare to murder him here. After all, he was an Englishman. I had four children.
So I always joked: I have... ...three sons and a cuddly girl.
I had three sons. A daughter and three sons. Sasha was the eldest. He was a true sportsman. He was one of the top five
pentathlon athletes. He went to school, of course. Our grandfather was a man
with strict rules... ...and he taught them
a sense of decency and an almost military
sense of honour. Inside,
Sasha always remained a child. Even during the past months. A vulnerable, open child. But he was very intelligent
all the same. I was head
of a psychiatric unit... ...and I had a chief doctor,
who had a doctorate in medicine. Obviously,
I paid attention to the children but to me they were children. But the chief doctor said to me
that my boy was very intelligent and I should let him go
to university. But fate decided otherwise.
He went in the army. After that he was assigned
to the FSB. He phoned and said:
"Dad, I'm in the FSB." In those days
it was still called the KGB. "Great", I said.
Make sure you stay there. What was wrong with the KGB? Every country must have
an intelligence service, right? We'd been brought up to be
patriotic, we knew our heroes... ...so why not?
My son was in the KGB. We were even proud of it. The night Sasha died,
they told us it was too dangerous
for us to stay at home. I wasn't even allowed to take
anything from my son's school. This is the only picture I have. I was a present. It's all I have left. Well not all, of course. Sasha will remain
in our hearts forever. Sasha and I first met
in unusual circumstances. He was helping my friends, who were
in a precarious situation. Some people were extorting them. My friends were dancers.
They never had any money. They had never met
any criminals, so they were very scared. They told me someone from
the FSB or KGB was helping them. I don't remember
what it was called exactly. They said he was
a remarkable guy, very funny,
and they felt safe with him. It happened to be my birthday,
and they wanted to visit me. But they were afraid
to go out alone... ...so they asked if it was OK
to bring him along. Just to come
and congratulate me. Not a real party,
just my birthday. So they brought Sasha. And he was indeed
very funny and unusual. Did you have a lot in common? Yes, he said to me: "Marina,
I'm so glad you're a dancer." I've always dreamed
that my wife would be a dancer. I ended up in a division
that worked for the 'court'... ...and I saw how
the Party's top brass lived. Then I realised
that those people were just robbing my nation. Some FSB officers
became richer and richer... ...had expensive cars, dachas,
houses, bank accounts. They also ran banks.
They did that clandestinely, with help from criminals. 1996 was the key year. Around 1996, the leadership
of the FSB fell into the hands of those who'd been fighting
dissidents all their lives. Former Soviet-officers
of the KGB's fifth division. And now we see that the secret
services have grabbed power. At this moment,
Russia being run... ...by former officers
of the KGB's fifth division. People who have fought
dissidents all their lives. And Putin has always done that
too. He was never just a spy... ...he's always worked
for the KGB's fifth division. Even in Germany... ...he got orders
from this service. Then he had to go to Chechnya. When he returned,
he was very quiet. I was involved
in the first Chechen war. I've been to all the former
Soviet Union's hotbeds. Soldiers have died in my arms,
I swear to you. I was there when
a boy of 18 was hit by a bullet. He was gone in a second. All that time not one leader,
not one politician told us... ...why we were there,
who we were protecting or why we were fighting. Now I've come to understand that
Sasha often confided in Akhmed. Akhmed is my brother. After Sasha's death
we became brothers. He is my brother. Sasha was involved in Chechnya
and therefore had files... ...on me and President Dudayev.
He told me so himself. Sasha knew about both of us. Those files meant he had
more information about me than I did myself. He didn't have to overcome
barriers to make friends, unlike me. Once he told me a story. About prisoners of war.
One of them was a boy of 15. Sasha interrogated him. "Why are you
with those gangsters?" "Isn't school
the best place for you?" "Why are you here?"
And so on and so forth. "No", the boy said.
"I'm not the only one." "My whole class
went to the front." Well, that incident... ...touched Sasha deeply.
"I know for sure", he said... "...that Russia
will never win this war..." "...and whatever
the ideology may be..." "...if a whole class
joins in a fight," "something else is going on." He then realised what the war
means to the Chechens. He told me that for him this really was
a radical turning point... ...in the way he thought
about this war. If you see this, Mr Putin,
then let me tell you this is my brother,
Akhmed Zakayev. I am now an extremist
and a terrorist too. I'll go to Russia.
So kill me Putin. I am the father of your enemy. I graduated with
some 25 other men. Half of them died
in the first war. I remember my friend
Sergey phoned me... ...he'd been in Chechnya
for four years. He was with the Internal
Intelligence Forces. His wife had left him.
He phoned me. "Where are you living
now?" I asked. "In a tent," he replied. "I have a medal," he
said, "but now I live in a tent. All I
have is a suitcase." "What?" I said. "Is that all
you have now, a suitcase?" "Sasha," he said,
"I'm still alive. I still have my hands,
legs and eyes. I'm alive. I have some psychological
problems but I'm still alive." Even then I knew that the FSB
killed people without a trial. Knowing that a colleague
kills people is one thing... But doing it yourself
is totally different. When I was ordered to
kill people I refused. At first, I just didn't do
it, and no one made a fuss. But when they kept insisting,
I openly refused to do it. I talked about it to
my insubordinates. The conversation went like this: We can follow three paths, I
said: we can start killing... ...but then there
is no way back. We'll become rich, of course. We'll murder for our
bosses, who will let us kill in our own interest. We'll earn a lot of money. In Moscow, a hitman easily
makes 20,000 dollars a month. But if we start doing that
there is no way back. The second possibility: We just don't do it, and
risk being demoted. The third possibility: We go public, which means
standing in front of a cannon. Opposing this system is suicide. I don't know what will
happen to us, I said. But each of us must decide
for themselves what to do. We thought about it
for a few months. Then we publicly
defied our superiors. We told the Public
Prosecutor that we had been given
criminal orders. This is another tape. I'll put it in. It was recorded
secretly, so the quality is bad. I was arrested on
25 March 1999... ...and taken to the FSB
prison in Lefortovo... ...where I spent eight months
after a wrongful accusation. The court agreed with me
, so I was acquitted. Just after the judge had
given his verdict... ...masked men stormed
the FSB building... ...with kalashnikovs and
wearing camouflage outfits. I was handcuffed
and they dragged me out of the courtroom... ...then they took me to a
prison for ordinary criminals. For three days, Litvinenko
has been in Butyrka Prison. The FSB took him there
from the courtroom. The fact that he'd just been
acquitted seemed irrelevant. Is it normal to arrest
someone in court? I've worked in courts
for 40 years but I've never experienced
anything like this. I was approached by
an FSB officer... ...who said that there
was nothing more to say. We're going to kill you or your
six-year-old son, he said. This is what he said: You won't
be prosecuted for crimes... ...because you haven't
committed any... ...but for betraying the system, and your public
opposition of it. Yes, I did indeed collaborate... With the Federal
Intelligence Service. The agent is saying that he
was ordered to murder me. That FSB agent is
telling a TV reporter that he was supposed
to murder me. It's one big detective novel. Just like the Soviet
Union's entire history. Shall I play another one?
Or not? Did you see how shocked
the judge was? I said: Watch it! The
Indians are attacking. Have you ever seen
masked men, would you believe, storm into a court? When Putin became president... ...he started to build up a
vertical power structure. This was implemented by the FSB, and the military
judicial bodies. Putin and his
people took control of those organisations first. Under those circumstances
I had no hope of justice. Furthermore, they threatened
to kill my child. That's why I decided
to leave Russia. At the end of summer
he told me out of the blue that he had to go. I asked him: Where to? Why? I
will tell you later, he said. And he suggested
I go on holiday. I said: What are
you talking about? Our son just started
music lessons, I'm teaching dance classes. Why would we need a holiday? Then Sasha becomes all serious,
I know I can't argue with him. Normally, he is very
laid back and kind. Marina, it has to be.
They're going to try and lock me up again. Sasha, they won't. If they
do, I'll wait for you. Marina, don't you realise
this will never stop? And suddenly we're
in London and I know we have a new
life ahead of us. My name is Vladimir Bukovski. I was born in the Soviet Union,
and I opposed the regime. Because of that I was persecuted
in all sorts of ways... ...and I spent 12 years in
various camps and prisons. In 1976, I was exchanged for
a Chilean communist leader. Litvinenko visited me. He arrived with his
whole family. We became acquainted.
He told me... ...that my file was study
material at the KGB academy. That's how he knew for sure that I wasn't someone with two faces. And I had reasons to assume
that he wasn't a double agent. Obviously, I watched
him closely... ...but I concluded that
he could be trusted. He was amazed when I... ...showed him documents that I'd copied from the party
archive in 1992. They showed what
his organisation did. He was shocked. He'd been reading
them for 48 hours when he phoned me at
4 in the morning. 'Does this mean that the KGB has always been a terrorist
organisation?' He was in shock. For a long time that was all he
could talk about. He was an open, honest guy,
who couldn't feign things. This really was new to him. Before the 1999 Presidential
and Parliamentary elections... ...all kinds of buildings
were blown up. When the explosions occurred,
I realised straight away. ...or rather, I
immediately suspected, that my former employer
was responsible. I have here direct proof that
the FSB was responsible. This is about an attempt to blow
up a fifth building in Ryazan. At nighttime on 22
September, the FSB tried to blow up a
flat in Ryazan. Explosives had been placed
under the building... ...which, by chance, were
found by the residents. The bomb disposal
squad removed them. The ensuing investigation
automatically assumed it was the
work of terrorists... ...and went searching for them.
They were found the next day. They were arrested and turned
our to be FSB officers. A very strange incident
happened regarding this. When those men were arrested... ...Internal Affairs
held a meeting. Rushailo, the
minister at the time, made the following statement: I want to thank
my colleagues who managed to foil
this act of terror. We have already made
lots of progress. As shown by the way we prevented
an act of terror in Ryazan. When he said that, those
men were arrested... ...the FSB officers
that is, and their boss, Patrushev, was
immediately informed. Thirty minutes later
he ran to the stage where the meeting
was being held... ...to say it wasn't an act
of terror but an exercise. It wasn't hexogen, but sugar. There was no explosion, so
there was nothing to prevent. It's a misunderstanding.
It was an exercise. The
substance was sugar. All the evidence is
in this sealed bag. We are not allowed to open
it without permission. I have it with me to
show that everything that happened was above board. We don't want anyone to think
that explosives were involved. This is a parliamentary
council sitting report... ...dated 13 September 1999. Seleznyov, the
parliamentary Speaker, opened the meeting as follows: 'Hello, esteemed colleagues.
Please sit down.' Then the
meeting began. He mentioned the
agenda, and then said: These are Seleznyov's words. 'According to reports
from Rostov on Don, a flat was blown
up in Volgodonsk.' That was on 13 September 1999. I'd like to state now
that nothing was blown up in Volgodonsk
on that day. That was the day a flat
in Moscow was blown up. A flat was blown up in
Volgodonsk on 17 September 1999. See what I mean? I managed to find out the
name of the person... ...who gave Seleznyov
the memo on the 13th about the flat
being blown up. It came from Lyach,
his assistant, who, for a long time... ...had been an agent in the
Russian Secret Service. It turns out that Lyach got
a message from the FSB. ...about the building that he
had to pass on to Seleznyov... ...who then had to inform
Parliament about it. But they confused the explosion
on the 13th in Moscow... ...with the planned explosion
on the 17th in Volgodonsk. It's high time
measures were taken. We're going to round up all
the Chechens. The whole lot. Then order will return
to the streets. All the Chechens, all of them. We spoke the language
of the law, but those gangsters
talked about ideas. Quickly, boldly and
with clenched teeth... ...we must stamp out
the adder today, because tomorrow
will be too late. Everyone who got too
close to the secret... ...of the terror
which the FSB has wreaked in Russia
for 12 years... ...has either been shot to
death, or has suddenly died. I know of nobody
in Russia who was involved in an in-depth
investigation... ...not a summary investigation
that is, who is still alive. That's everyone who
demanded answers to concrete questions
from the government. It should be here. If you turn off the camera,
I'll get a Russian book. No I'll give it to
you in English. They now have to
erase all traces... ...of their crimes.
Who knew about them? Anna Politkovskaya knew what
was happening in Chechnya... ...and Sasha knew
the truth about the explosions. They were witnesses. And now they are
going to get rid of all the other witnesses too. Gangsters always
cover their tracks. I can say that even
in 1999 I thought... ...as I still think today... ...that the FSB did it,
and used the Chechens. What makes you think that? Public relations. Feelings must be stirred up.
A war has to be started. An important reason is needed
then no questions will be asked. Feelings have to be
inflamed so much... ...that people are
overcome by them. Elections were coming and Putin
had to be a vote puller. He suddenly had to become
Lord of the Kremlin. A czar, in Russian terminology. War, preferably a
bloody war, was the only way to achieve that. And they started that war.
And they made it bloody. Nobody was shocked by
the bombs on Grozny. On the contrary:
it was fantastic. I knew Anna well. I knew
how vulnerable she was. And I knew how scared she was. Two months before her
death we met in London. I'd been trying to talk her
round for a few years. I said: You're more than a journalist
now, you've become an expert. People listen to you. You can do a lot more for
Russia and for everyone... ...if you make sure you
stay alive. Stay here. You have so much material.
For the next ten years... ...you could give lectures
and keep the issue topical. No, she said. I'm a journalist,
so I'm staying put. Then she admitted
she was afraid. Akhmed, she said, I'm terrified. Every time I go into my porch I think: This will
be the last time. She literally said that to me.
And I keep thinking
about that event: That narrow porch,
that powerless woman and that gun in her face. I can really imagine how she
felt in those last few seconds. Her death was a huge shock. Bye.
-Bye. This journalist was certainly... ...very critical about
the Russian government. But journalists must know, and
as experts are very aware... ...her impact on Russian
political life was negligible. She was known in
journalist circles, the human rights movement,
and in the West. But I repeat her political
influence was virtually nil. The brutal murder of this
woman, who was a mother... ...also impacts on Russia as
a whole and its government. This murder causes Russia
and its government... ...and the Chechen
government that she was very closely
involved with... ...far more damage than
all her publications. Everyone in Russia knows
that for an absolute fact. But whoever is
involved, and whatever motives the perpetrators had... ...they are criminals, who
have to be found and punished. We will do everything in
our power to achieve this. Sasha was good at this job.
Very good. He started his own
investigation. He rang me on 1
November and said: Akhmed, I'm about
to get information: A list of people who
might be responsible for murdering Politkovskaya. At that point, he'd already been poisoned, but we
didn't know it yet. I have to talk about
what I know. Just now someone asked
me who killed Anna. The answer is: Mr Putin,
President of Russia. They can kill everyone, that's
why I advised her to leave. She told me that Putin
was threatening her. There were less
killings when the Central Committee
was in charge... ...as permission was
needed for every killing. It was a
whole procedure. Now the decisions are made
at the offices of the FSB. Hence all the murders. There are
lots more now than in my day. They happened, but
there were less. It's far easier to kill than
go to court or whatever. Sasha was constantly threatened.
I was there when he got a
call from Moscow... ...and someone said:
So you think you're safe in London?
Remember Trotsky. We were walking in town. His son
was there. The sun was shining. It was springtime. His mobile
rang and the threats came. They made the
appointment with me, on Thursday the 23rd, at 2 a.m. Dmitri Kovtun and me. Good day. The attempt to use this incident
to discredit the government... ...and to turn it
into a political scandal doesn't stand a chance. I couldn't care less which FSB operative killed Sasha.
Not at all. I know who gave the order. Because he hardly takes
any trouble to hide it. Perhaps you know that a law was
passed in Moscow in July... ...that authorises the President
to deploy his special forces... ...to eliminate enemies, or
extremists, as they call them... ...both at home and abroad. The law was passed. Putin
signed it on 27 July. Ivanov, the Minister of Defence
then immediately declared... ...that enemy lists
had already been drawn up. They're
very open about it. This escaped everyone's
notice but now these people are
the first victims. And they're not the last.
Take it from me. He always said to me:
Marina, I'm a detective. Not someone who does it for a laugh, but who does
it thoroughly. Someone who is better
than the others. I loved Sasha for
the way he was. Of course I tried
to change certain things, like all women do. Women like to think
they can change things. But it is not true. Men seem to listen sometimes,
but they don't really. Sasha might have listened
to me in small matters. But never in important ones. Then I said: Sasha,
do you realise this will backfire
on our family? He said: Marina, there's
nothing else I can do. Later he told me:
Do you know why I was brave enough
to do what I did? Why? 'Because I knew
you'd stand behind me.' My son has died. He was
killed by a tiny atomic bomb. So small that it was invisible. To me, Litvinenko was a
very fascinating person. He was a soldier who had
been in Chechnya... ...to fight the rebels,
and that had marked him. he had fought in the
mud, in the cold and the rain, as
he himself said. And, on his own,
this man searched... ...in the awful reality, for the boundary behind
which crime lurks: True crime, murder. An inner voice then said to him: Stop. He was probably no angel... in Chechnya or in the secret
services in the nineties. People who were
involved in things like that had to make
lots of compromises. But there was one boundary
that he could not cross. I felt that. I'm a
film director and I recognise falsehood,
but I felt... ...that this was the truth.
He was not making things up. And to me... ...he was a metaphor for the
Russian nation. For those... ...who are the only people
capable of making things change. Sasha comes from the
security service... ...like our elite, who also
come from the service... ...but even so he was different.
He often compared himself to Putin. I had the impression that he saw himself as an
alternative to Putin: The KGB man or the FSB man. Both knew the system
from the inside... ...and knew the power
of such organisations. I felt he saw himself as
an alternative to Putin. The death of a person
is always a tragedy. I therefore offer
my condolences to Mr Litvinenko's
family and friends. Apparently, as far
as I know, from the doctors'
post-mortem report... ...there are no indications
that his death was violent. So it wasn't murder. Therefore further speculation
is pointless. As far as Litvinenko's last
letter is concerned I can say... ...that if it did indeed
turn up before his death... ...then why wasn't it published
when he was still alive? And if the letter turned
up after his death... ...then obviously... Well, what more can I say? The people who did this
are not the Lord God. And unfortunately Mr
Litvinenko was not Lazarus. It is sad that such a tragic
event, the death of a person... ...is exploited for
political provocation. On Sunday, five days
before Sasha's death... ...I flew to London
and found him... ...in a terrible state. he
looked just like a ghost. No longer the healthy
Sasha I knew. I saw the old Sasha for the last time... ...at a ceremony in
Westminster Abbey to commemorate Anna
Politkovskaya. That was the day he received
his British passport. It was, of course,
a sad occasion, and we all grieved for Anna... ...but he was happy all the
same. Because of the passport. In the crowd he whispered to me:
I'm British. I'm an Englishman. On Monday morning I thought
he looked a bit better. It was light, he
greeted me and talked. I remember him
pointing to himself and saying: Look, old chap... This is how I have to prove I'm right. I didn't realise
what he meant at first but thinking
back on it now... ...it gives me
goose bumps again. He realised he had a mission. He understood why this... ...had been done to him. And that makes this
case so extraordinary. Alexander called me
from the hospital. This was a few days
after he was taken to hospital after the poisoning. He called me himself. He said:
I've been poisoned. I'm sure. This was something unusual. I'm
convinced it was chemical. I think it was a
chemical weapon. He was a trained officer. He was cunning. He drank a
solution with manganese... ...to subsequently throw up. He
repeated this several times. If he hadn't pumped
his stomach so often, he would have
died within days. The person who was supposed to poison him must
have been a moron. Maybe they didn't
tell him what sort of substance he
was dealing with. He managed to leave
traces in half of Germany and London. Idiot. This poison is really
quite efficient. So in principle it wasn't such a bad choice as people
think it was. I knew nothing about Sasha's contacts who were
disclosed later. On the 4th he told me about
all kinds of meetings... ...and then I no longer doubted
that he'd been poisoned. Even so, he stayed very strong. We told the doctors that
he may have been poisoned. Sasha had to die within ten
days. But his healthy heart... ...allowed the English
doctors to look for... ...the cause of death. If he had died
within ten days... ...no one would have found out.
I'm absolutely convinced... ...that Putin knew all about it.
When he made that statement
in Finland... ...about no violence being used,
he was totally convinced... ...that Alexander Litvinenko
would die of an unknown cause. In those 23 days, he looked
older by the minute. Despite these changes, I
believed he would survive. That it was impossible to
destroy his health, his body. Then we noticed that
his hair started to fall out. It went very quick. I asked the doctors to shave
him, because it irritated him. They didn't know. Maybe they
needed his hair for tests. They didn't have a
diagnosis at the time. Not even the initial
one about thallium. Then they let me shave him.
Sasha said: Will my hair grow back? Of course Sasha, it will.
Your hair will grow back. Then he asked me: Marina, I will
be able to run again, won't I? Of course, Sasha. You will run.
You will slowly get better,
and then you'll run. When I arrived I
saw that Sasha was completely disfigured
by his illness. He was in bed. He was bald. But a Mona-Lisa like smile
played on his lips... ...a mysterious smile
that lifted his face. This wasn't a son, but a father.
My father. I was the son. He radiated wisdom.
I realised that before he died he
understood everything. I approached him and made a
sign of the cross for him... ...and I said the
Lord's Prayer for him. Sasha kept his eyes closed. Then he said: Dad,
I've converted to Islam. I am a Muslim now. That's good son, I said. Now
we have another Muslim. My son-in-law is a Muslim too. At that time I still
hoped he'd recover. As long as you're
not a communist or a Satanist, it's fine by me. That's what I said to him. Well, and Sasha... ...lent back again and closed
his eyes. He was very weak. That night I stayed with Sasha. I thank the Lord God that
I was with my son then. I wasn't hungry or anything. I stayed close to Sasha.
He fended me off if I got
too close to him. He probably felt
something coming closer. He said to his son, my
son, to his wife and me... ...that if possible... ...he wanted to be reburied in
Chechnya. In a Chechen cemetery. He was still strong that day and
we didn't think he would die. On the contrary: of course we're
all going to die one day. He said: I just
want to say it now. We are men, so I'll just say it. It doesn't mean I'll die in 5 minutes, I'll fight
till the end. That's how he went to eternity. United in Chechnya's fate. He did what he could... To unite Christianity
and the Islam. He asked forgiveness for
things he hadn't done. I'm a Christian...
-And in his last years he lived with the whole
tragedy and pain. He went to eternity
taking with him... ...the blame for
what happened there. I'm a Christian and Akhmed
is a Muslim. We're brothers. We've become brothers. I've lost my son but
I've found a brother.
