"The Litvinenko affair", a state crime and the promise of a widow

• M6 broadcasts this Thursday at 9:10 p.m. the British miniseries

  Polonium murder, the Litvinenko affair

  .

  The first two episodes are already available on the 6play.fr website.

• The first two episodes of the series will be followed by the broadcast of two documentaries

  Litvinenko Affair: A State Murder

  and

  Russian Oligarchs: The Great Hunt

  .

• This mini-series returns to the assassination of dissident Alexander Litvinenko, played on screen by David Tennant, commissioned by the director of the FSB, Nikolai Patrushev, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The underside of an investigation into a state crime.

M6 is broadcasting this Thursday

, a miniseries in four episodes which relates the investigation carried out by two Scotland Yard police officers, here played by Mark Bonnar (

) and Neil Maskell (

).

Their investigation concerns the assassination of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, camped by David Tennant (

,

), commissioned by FSB director Nikolai Patrushev and Russian President Vladimir Putin in London in 2006.

The British series written by George Kay, creator and showrunner of

for Netflix, also shows the fight of the latter's widow, Marina, interpreted by the Russian-American Margarita Levieva, to prove the involvement of the Russian state in this affair.

An incredible true story, unfortunately still relevant.

“This drama very close to reality”, applauds Marina Litvinenko, during a virtual press conference for the French press.

It all started in 2016, when Richard Kerbaj, then a reporter for the

, contacted her to collaborate on his documentary called

, which tells the Alexander Litvinenko case from the point of view of the police.

“He told me that we were going to make it a fiction, but I was not sure that it could materialize.

When he told me that the ITV channel had signed for a series and who was going to be part of the team, I was really impressed, ”recalls the widow of the Russian dissident.

“My husband asked me to tell”

The photo of Alexander Litvinenko on his hospital bed entered the collective memory.

She had made headlines around the world shortly before her death at the age of 43.

On set, David Tennant and the production team recreated the (infamous) shot.

“He is a very well-known actor in the UK and, thanks to him, a new generation of viewers will hear about my husband's story for the first time,” rejoices Marina Litvinenko.

The latter, about Margarita Levieva, the actress who plays her on the screen, says: “We saw each other several times for a walk in Hyde Park, for lunch, to go see a ballet… I never told her. gave no advice, but I noticed afterwards that she had studied my way of speaking and walking.

She is very fair.

»

After the documentaries, the books, the play

, taken from the eponymous book and created in 2019 in London, Marina Litvinenko continues to occupy the media space in order to perpetuate the memory of the one she affectionately nicknamed Sasha and to denounce his killer, Vladimir Putin and his corrupt regime: “Sasha asked me to tell and explain what happened to us.

I made him that promise.

»

“No one could believe this story”

The miniseries begins one evening in November 2006 when Alexander Litvinenko announces to his wife and son that they have just been naturalized English.

A few moments later, he is violently nauseous.

At University College Hospital in London, he wants to be heard by Scotland Yard.

This former Russian secret service agent and whistleblower claims to have been poisoned on direct orders from Vladimir Putin.

His speech leaves the police dubious: “I want to report a murder to you.

What murder?

Mine… "

“The use of radioactive polonium, Vladimir Putin's name and Sasha's name went around the world.

But, in 2006, the police had great difficulty in investigating.

No one could believe this story,” recalls the widow.

Sixteen days later, two Scotland Yard officers were sent to the bedside of the dissident when his condition had seriously deteriorated.

On his deathbed, Alexander Litvinenko provides investigators with specific details of the places and people he frequented.

A race against time begins to discover the nature of the poison ingested and protect individuals who may have come into contact with the substance.

“It's not a political thriller, but a police investigation,” explains Marina Litvinenko.

“I fight for justice, memory, love”

Litvinenko died on November 23 from polonium-210 poisoning.

Helped tirelessly in their investigations by his wife, Scotland Yard investigators will prove the direct involvement of the director of the FSB, Nikolai Patrushev, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin in this affair.

This will cause an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between the UK and Russia.

Fifteen years later, in 2021, the European Court of Human Rights found Russia "responsible" for the assassination of the former Russian spy.

“When I talk about my experience, I try not to use the word 'against' but 'for'.

When you fight against something, you waste a lot of energy and you never quite get what you want.

I fight for justice, memory, love, ”says Marina Litvinenko.

The one who does not despair that one day Vladimir Putin will be brought to justice for his crimes now has her eyes turned towards Ukraine.

She would like to get involved in a charitable action for Ukrainian children.

“My story is only one chapter in this long book on the charges of this regime: the war in Georgia, the murder of opposition leaders in Russia and dissidents, and the war in Ukraine,” she concludes. .

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