Widow of poisoned ex-KGB agent speaks out

Marina Litvinenko recalls the harrowing days leading up to the former Russian spy's 'horrible' death.
By Kim Murphy
LA Times

LONDON — It was going to be a special dinner to celebrate the sixth anniversary of their escape from Russia. Marina Litvinenko cooked a special recipe from her mother, chicken and blini. Often, Alexander ate out because he didn't have time for family dinners.

"This time, he said, 'Marina, I will eat with you,' " she said, remembering the night her husband started dying.

A few hours after dinner, he said he felt sick. "I said, 'Why? It was so delicious, so good.' He said, 'I can't keep it down anymore.' And he went to the bathroom and threw up." Alexander — "Sasha" to his family and friends — said he would sleep in the study that night. In the morning, he was much worse.

"He said, 'I almost died, I felt like my heart almost stopped,' " she recalled. "And then that next day started the horrible diarrhea — blood. Horrible."

Already, her husband from his long years as a KGB man seemed to know. "This couldn't be flu," he said. "It looks like chemical poisoning."

What Marina Litvinenko didn't know then was that three weeks later, her husband would become the first known person who doctors say appears to have died of deliberate poisoning by radioactive polonium.

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