大象传媒

A public inquiry has opened into the murder in London of the former Russian intelligence officer.

His wife Marina says he blamed the Kremlin for his poisoning. She told Today: "He didn't die immediately when he was poisoned. He survived for 23 days."

"Only on the last day of his life was Polonium discovered, otherwise his death was unexplained. But how many unexplained deaths have we had already?"

"People in Russia had the chance to come to England and say yes they are innocent people, but they did not do this."

The inquiry is expected to hear that there had been two previous attempts on his life. Two Russians, Dmitry Kovtun and former KGB agent Andrei Lugov, both denied responsibility and Moscow has refused to extradite them.

Mr Litvinenko worked for the British security service MI6 when he moved to the UK.