Alexander Litvinenko, RIP

Updated below:

I don't have anything particularly poignant to say about this other than the fact that Bush claimed to have looked Putin in the eye and saw that he had a good soul:

Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian ex-spy who said he was the victim of a poisoning, has died in hospital.

Mr Litvinenko, 43, died on Thursday evening and the cause of his condition is still being investigated, said University College Hospital, London.

Update:

Litvinenko dictated a message to his beloved Putin shortly before he died:

Former spy Alexander Litvinenko sent a message to Russian leader Vladimir Putin from his deathbed, it emerged today.

In it he told Mr Putin: "You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed."

Mr Litvinenko, who died of suspected poisoning in a London hospital last night, said: "You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office."

And addressing Mr Putin directly, he added: "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."