Poisoned spy remained defiant to the end
The final words of poisoned Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko took on a chilling resonance today after his death last night.
In an interview with The Times just hours before the former Russian intelligence officer slipped into unconsciousness, Mr Litvinenko whispered: “The bastards got me, but they won’t get everybody.”
The 43-year-old was described as too weak to move his limbs and visibly in great pain as he spoke on Tuesday, the last occasion he was properly able to communicate with his friend, filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov.
He told his friend that he knew his battle against a mystery poison may fail, but the campaign for truth would go on with or without him.
“I want to survive just to show them,” he said.
He remained defiant to the last in his battle against President Putin and the Russian security services, even managing a joke at his own expense by suggesting his poisoning was proof the Kremlin was targeting the right people.
He continued: “This is what it takes to prove one has been telling the truth.”
Mr Nekrasov described the extraordinary scenes in the hospital, where one ward looked “like a scene from the Godfather”.
All visitors were screened by armed police before being ushered into the darkened intensive care room where Litvinenko lay in excruciating pain in the days before his death.
Mr Nekrasov told The Times: “Sasha (Litvinenko) was a good looking, physically strong and courageous man, but the figure who greeted me looked like a survivor from the Nazi concentration camps.
“We discussed the likelihood of another killing. Sasha warned me not to go back to Russia because it was too dangerous.
“Very sadly he turned out to be the next victim, attacked in the perceived safety of Central London.”
