Kremlin spokesman says British Litvinenko probe ‘poisons’ Russia-UK relations

Vladimir Putin's official spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, says the results of a British police inquiry into the murder of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko “can be attributed to that elegant British sense of humor,” according to the news agency RBC. Litvinenko, who became a vocal critic of Putin, died in 2006 after drinking tea laced with a radioactive poison.

Peskov warned that the police report (which concludes that Putin himself “probably” approved Litvinenko's murder) will “freeze not only [bilateral] cooperation, but also dialogue in the vast majority of areas.”

In a curious choice of words, the Kremlin's spokesman also accused Britain of “poisoning” bilateral relations between Russia and the UK. 

“This is a joke, but it can be attributed to that elegant British sense of humor, when a public and open investigation rests on restricted data from unnamed intelligence agencies and repeatedly uses the words ‘possibly’ and ‘probably,’” Peskov said.