Putin pushing his weight around

It appears that Vladimir Putin tried to pressure the British government into putting a gag order on Alexander Litvinenko during his final days in order to prevent him from accusing Putin of the poisoning. The pressure failed, and the Ruskis are not happy campers.

THE Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has expressed his anger at Britain’s failure to gag Alexander Litvinenko in the final hours of his life, the cabinet has been told.

Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, told ministers that the Russian government had “taken exception” to the poisoned former spy’s deathbed letter accusing the Putin regime of murdering him.