she was a friend of litvinenko. three weeks later litvinenko was poisoned with polonium 210.rinovsky certainly didn't shed any tears when that happened, but laughs off the notion that the russian state was connected in any way. for one simple reason -- he thinks russian agents would have done a better job. >> i'm surprised that the uk special services and the uk court accuses russia and lugovoi that with a bag of polonium they came to london and were just throwing it around. >> reporter: it just doesn't make sense to a lot of people that russia didn't kill him. >> for 100 years the russian special services have been using the kind of substances for killing people that you never will be able to recognize. why do we have to go into some kind of a bar and put it in somebody's tea cup and everybody's laughing at it? i mean, the state cannot be involved in that. >> reporter: litvinenko's friend paul joyal, who believes he was the target of a botched assassination, agrees that, in some ways, litvinenko's killers were indeed clumsy and careless. but he says that's because they were

of his wife marina that the ago has campaigned tirelessly ever since then to preserve alexander litvinenko as memory and to bring to justice those few killed him mrs that joins me tonight from london good evening to you mrs the litvinenko we appreciate you taking the time to be on the day there have been four reported exposures to novi joke in the u.k. this year one person has died there's a murder investigation now underway based on what you experienced following your husband's murder is the british government handling the novi showcases appropriate . first of all i would lead to extend my condolences to the family of don sturgeon it's absolutely shocking news for what happened and she has died and after that of course the something was not done enough after a few months then says time we heard about novacek now i have assessed innocent victim it means something was not enough. do you see evidence in the cases just suggest to you that british authorities. have not learned from their experience with the inquiry into your own husband's murder i would say when we received news about. i said

thank you, and thank you for the name alexander litvinenko.rt i read, sprayed this stuff, perhaps on her wrist, which may explain, i don't know, speculating, but could explain why she was more ill than her boyfriend, but it is extraordinary that they have managed carefully but deliberately to piece together what happened through what i would imagine was hours and hours of cctv footage. and imagine what you are looking for, check all of your records of no russians, russians you think could be linked to the secret services intelligence offices in moscow itself and then you need to look and see if any are behaving suspiciously, and track them from the airport, it would be an incredible job the airport, it would be an incrediblejob to go the airport, it would be an incredible job to go through that. what is odd to me is that wasn't more cctv footage of them there or somehow encountering the skripals in that neighbourhood, when you think how many cameras that are in britain, but there are not that many in salisbury. senior conservatives are under r

that is extremely unusual and extremely rare and it's something that brings balance of alexander litvinenko the former russian spy who was that this isn't a critic of not being uprooted and who was poisoned in the middle of london with that another agent polonia says we had these we've had he's a russian speaking targeted in london and the british government thinks that the russians we have claimed it just because it's such a red page and they they say they know where it was manufactured and it's has soured of course the relations between great britain and russia severely says this is something that still hanging over over the u.k. and that they had something that's that's still an ongoing friction between russia and the u.k. and of course if there is now at the risk of the larger british public if it's not something that is targeted at somebody in particular that of course makes the whole situation even more even more difficult and even more severe yeah and you also mentioned that the this couple that is in critical condition tonight charlie rowley and dawn sturges that's the names of the

it has only happened once before, the litvinenko case. and a very different radioactive substance.ner, charlie rowley still ill. and it was very obvious when the skripals collapsed. they were lucky, ina skripals collapsed. they were lucky, in a way. it was daylight, in a crowded restaurant, and they collapsed in full view of a restau ra nt, collapsed in full view of a restaurant, and they were treated with relative urgency and identified. the circumstances of dawn sturgess's demise were much more tragic, she seemed to not fall so more tragic, she seemed to not fall so quickly, spent the night at her partner's house and sell more ill. perhaps there was a delay in treatment, and as you said, it was the world centre for treatment of this. so many radars are on high alert for any circumstances approximating the skripals, but this will not be a happy ending they wanted. the shadow will come down over salisbury even though our home secretary has been quick to say it isa secretary has been quick to say it is a safe area once again. this is a tiny, tiny risk, but it is the headline that ha

ten years ago off poisoning one of the four main dungeon so officer who reside that in london mr litvinenko and the thread will reach concluded that the russian was responsible was also secret now the investigation of these souls very poisoning is also going on without any transparent in front. mission being provided to the public without anything given to us including access to a russian citizen and so on and so forth now the this this is becoming contagious i believe and highly likely and the assertion that there is no other credible explanation is becoming a rule on which the western friends try to base their policy on russian the the latest the latest event greece is absolutely going in the same vein highly likely we are not given any hugo effect on the backs of the american elections i've spent some time in the united states so i believe i understand how the system is working and when a year and a half or even more. investigation goes on hearings go on. the special counsel or mr miller dozens of people but dissipating in the hearing being interrogated. and the only think the public get

ten years ago off poisoning one of the four main dungeon so officer who reside that in london mr litvinenko and the trail which gunk looted that the russian was responsible was also secret. now the investigation of these souls of very poisoning is also going on without any transparent information being provided to the public without anything given to us including access to the russian citizen and so on and so forth now the this this is becoming contagious i believe and highly likely and the assertion that there is no other credible explanation is becoming a rule on which the western friends try to base their policy on russian the the latest the latest event greece is absolutely going in the same vein highly likely we are not given any huge effect on the backs of the american elections i've spent some time in the united states so i believe i understand how the system is working and when a year and a half or even more. investigation goes on hearings go on. the special counsel or mr knoller dozens of people but dissipating in the hearing being interrogated. and the only think the public gets i

us ten years ago off poisoning one of the form intelligence officer who reside that in london mr litvinenko and the trail of which gunk looted that the russian was responsible was also secret now the investigation of these souls very poisoning is also going on without any transparent and from. being provided to the public without anything given to us including access to a russian citizen and so on and so forth now the this this is becoming contentious i believe and highly likely and the assertion that there is no other credible explanation is becoming a rule on which the western friends try to base their policy on russian the the latest the latest event and greece is absolutely going in the same vein highly likely we are not given any huge effect on the backs of the american elections i've spent some time in the united states so i believe i understand how the system is working and when a year and a half or even more. investigation goes on hearings go on. the special counsel or mr miller dozens of people but you see paging in the hearing being interrogated. and the only think the public gets

russian—american historian and author, who wrote a book with the former russian spy, alexander litvinenkothen those crunch talks on brexit, we will have the latest, including any announcements that might be made. and their latest on it, we will hear the story of sophie raworth‘s grandfather who was one of the first pilot in the newly formed raf in this special programme ahead of the centenary this special programme ahead of the ce nte nary of this special programme ahead of the centenary of the air force. sophie finds out what was really like —— what life was really like for them. that is all head on bbc news, but now it is time for sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm olly foster live in moscow, these are our world cup headlines: france are the first team through to the semi—finals, with a helping hand from a uruguayan goalkeeper. ready for blast—off, england have arrived in samara, russia s rocket capital, to take on the swedes. i'm holly hamilton — live from wimbledon on day 5 of the championships. where serena williams extended her winning streak, but sister venus becomes th

deaths of many of its critics, including the journalist anna politskaya and the former kgb agent litvinenkoere are those who live to tell. the man seen in this surveillance footage at a u.k. convenience store is sergei schiphol, an exrussian spy. he moved here to salisbury, england, after he was convicted of selling secrets to britain's mi-6. in march, skripal and his daughter, julia, were found unconscious on a bench in salisbu salisbury. police concluded that the pair had been killed with a nerve agent. u.s. authorities placed the blame squarely on one person. >> president putin acting in this way. >> putin shot back, calling the accusations drivel and nonsense. tv went further, blaming president putin himself. back to that night on the bridge -- the allegations that putin might have played a role in boris' murder, may have been >> the ukraine report was released after the murder. there was an earlier report published in 2012, that also was embarrassing for putin. he claimed the president had 43 planes, 15 helicopters and 4 yachts at his disposal. including one super yacht. then, there ar

deaths of many of its critics, including the journalist anna politskaya and the former kgb agent litvinenkot there are doz ens more like the. and then there are those who live to tell. the man seen in the surveillance footage at a u.k. convenience store is sergei skripal who moved here eight years ago after being are released from moscow where he was convicted of selling secrets as a member of mi6. he and his daughter were found unconscious on a shopping bench in salisbury. the police concluded that the pair had been poisoned with a military grade nerve agent. and the u.k. authorities placed the blame on one person. >> it is tragic that president putin a has chosen to act in the way. >> putin shot back calling the accusations complete dribble and rubbi rubbish. >> it is nonsense. >> pro kremlin tv went further to blame the double agent himself. >> back to that night on the bolshoi bridge, the idea that president putin had anything to do with nemtsov's murder. >> he was about to reveal information that had to do with russia's involvement in ukraine. >> that was released after his murder, but

states is the russian—american historian yuri felshtinsky, who co—authored a book with alexander litvinenkoup russia. welcome to the programme. i wonder how you feel this latest development will influence the police investigation into what happened with the skripals, which is already going on. i think it will help with finding out how it will be delivered. also it will probably help the british police with their investigations, to find out the people who were trying to poison the skripals. it will still help. u nfortu nately, two skripals. it will still help. unfortunately, two more people are seriously damaged by poisoning. the main problem is they should not expect that the video, the intelligence of russia with the poisoning on the skripal would have a label ona poisoning on the skripal would have a label on a container saying dispose of safely after use. they do not care about political damage. we have seen this in other cases in london when radioactive poisoning was used and it was the same problem with poisoning induced by russian special services in case of the skripals. they really

so there was the same story when alexander litvinenko was killed in london with pollulutonium.hey allowed the british police to come to question the alleged killer, but when push came to shove and the british police wanted to have him prosecuted, vladimir putin raised his hand and said, we don't allow the extradition of our nationals. so it's of no value whatsoever for anybody from u.s. law enforcement to go to russia to allow the russians to interrogate these people when they're never going to be brought to justice in the united states. this is just putin playing games with trump and sort of playing games with the american public as well. then throwing my name into the hopper to make it even more interesting. >> and, you know, putin mentioned you today, obviously by name as part of this deal. you wrote an open letter to president trump that he received just before this summit, in which you warned him not to trust putin because he's a liar, as you said. the only way to deal with putin is to contain him and not engage him. okay. here is what trump said about putin today. >> our

but i think the litvinenko case of a few years ago will be the model that is being worked to, and therned in this current investigation. thank you very much for your time today, peter williams, lecturer liverpooljohns university. 0ur correspondent sarah campbell joins me now. sarah, let's take a step back to these initial reports this morning, detectives had identified perpetrators in the skripal poisoning case. what can you tell is about that. these reports from the press association news agency. the police have not confirmed until asked, but this is what they are saying. they're saying their sources have told them that they have pieced together cctv from the original poisoning back in march, when surrogate skripal and his daughter yulia were poisoned. they say they have cross checked with people coming in and out of the uk at that time, and investigators have identified several suspects, and they are sure that they are russian. so just to they are sure that they are russian. sojust to remind ourselves, there have been for people so far who have come into contact with novichok. serge