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On November 23, 2006, former Russian military intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko died in a London hospital. Authorities determined he was deliberately poisoned with the radionuclide Polonium-210 (210Po). Police subsequently discovered that those involved in this crime had--apparently inadvertently--spread 210Po over many locations in London. The United Kingdom Health Protection Agency (HPA) contacted many persons who might have been exposed to 210Po and provided voluntary urine testing. Some of those identified as potentially exposed were U.S. citizens, whom the HPA requested that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assist in contacting. CDC also provided health care professionals and state and local public health officials with guidance as to how they might respond should a Litvinenko-like incident occur in the U.S. This guidance has resulted in the identification of a number of lessons that can be useful to public health and medical authorities in planning for radiological incidents. Eight such lessons are discussed in this article.

LONDON, Jan 21 Reuters - Britain is considering further action against Russia after an inquiry found President Vladimir Putin probably approved the murder of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.

\"The English were insisting on representatives of the state taking part in the process, but the Russian side agreed on having employees of law-enforcement agencies. It has been decided that two employees from Russia's Investigations Committee will fly to London, given that it is the Investigations Committee which is handling the criminal case relating to the killing of A. [Aleksandr Litvinenko] and the attempted killing of Russian businessman Dmitriy Kovtun,\" one of the agency's interlocutors said.

\"The English [as received] insist on the extradition of Andrey Lugovoy (former FSB officer and businessman, a friend of [Aleksandr Litvinenko], currently a State Duma deputy). The Russian side refuses to extradite him, referring to the country's constitution, but is prepared to conduct its own investigation on the basis of materials gathered by British investigators,\" the source said. [Passage omitted]

It was supposed to be the perfect crime. The victim, [Alexander Litvinenko], a Russian dissident, former secret service agent and relentless critic of Vladimir Putin. The alleged murderers, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi, also former Russian secret service agents, then working as private investigators in Russia and Europe. The attack would take place November 1st, 2006, at the Millennium Hotel on Grosvenor Square in London. In the reception area, there is a security camera that records images 24 hours a day. That camera recorded these just-released pictures of the alleged killers, Lugovoi and Kovtun at the reception desk on November 1st. The two men entered the Pine Bar off the hotel lobby at about 3:20 p.m. They ordered three cups of tea and also a couple of gin and tonics. The evidence shows that they poured two cups of tea for themselves, then added poison into the teapot, a small amount of highly radioactive polonium-210. A security camera caught this image of Andrei Lugovoi at 3:33 on the way to the washroom. Notice his left hand is concealed in his jacket pocket. Kovtun took his turn at 3:48. One or both of them left traces of radioactivity on the door as they entered the washroom and then again as they washed their hands and used the hand dryer. Meanwhile Alexander Litvinenko was making his way to the hotel. This security camera photo shows him coming up the street at 3:44 p.m. He entered the hotel lobby at precisely 4 o'clock, his image recorded by the reception desk camera. Litvinenko later told police that he only took two or three sips of the tea which he found tasted quite bitter. Weeks later police would discover a high amount of radiation contamination in the teapot, especially concentrated in the spout. Polonium is a slow-acting but deadly poison. Litvinenko would not feel the effects on the drive home. He became violently ill shortly after midnight that night, but would suffer 23 days of agony in hospital before he finally died. He identified Lugovoi, Kovtun and others who might have poisoned him, but made clear in this just-released police interview that only one man in Russia was ultimately to blame. It's as if someone had taken his conscience and sheared it off with a pair of scissors. There's just... there's an emptiness there, there's a coldness there, there's a calculating side to him. Now he's not stupid, he's a very intelligent person who I think has been very well coached, and his subsequent career since this case has prospered. Judge Robert Owen is presiding over the Litvinenko inquiry. He has already said that there is a prima facie case against the Russian government as being responsible for the murder. It is unlikely that he could go beyond that to lay the blame on Vladimir Putin himself. Five years ago, however, leaked diplomatic cables showed that a senior American official privately told European allies that the Litvinenko plot could not have been carried out without Putin's knowledge and approval. All of this creates a serious challenge for the U.K. government and the West. How to deal with a world leader who almost everyone believes is personally guilty of murder. For \"The National,\" I'm [Terence McKenna] in London.

The British Sunday Times newspaper earlier published a document according to which the Russian security services allegedly obtained several kilograms of polonium-210 from Balakovskaya nuclear power station several months before [Aleksandr Litvinenko]'s death. A spokesman for Rosatom [Russian state corporation for atomic energy] described the document as dubious, noting that polonium production in Russia in 2006 amounted to just 0.8 g a month.

Russian state-controlled Channel One in its 1400 gmt news bulletin on 2 February showed a correspondent's report about a \"sensational statement\" from Valter (Walter) Litvinenko, the father of Aleksandr Litvinenko, the former Russian Federal Security Service officer who was poisoned in London in 2006. In an interview in Italy, where Litvinenko Sr is currently living, he said that he no longer stands by his previously stated claim that the Russian authorities were involved in his son's murder. He said that it was \"as if something clicked\" in his head when reports emerged that his son Aleksandr had worked for the British intelligence service MI6. Litvinenko Sr was shown asking his homeland to forgive him and saying that he wants to return home. The report stressed that Litvinenko is now penniless and has been abandoned by those who previously supported him, such as Russian businessman [Boris Abramovich Berezovskiy], who has political asylum in the UK. The following is the text of the report, which was repeated with a slightly different presenter's preamble on the same day in Channel One's primetime \"Vremya\" news programme (1700 gmt): [[Valter Litvinenko]] It's cold. You're not wanted here. You cop it and they'll drag you out and carry you off. Like my wife as well. She's asked all the time, asked to go to Russia. I want to go home. She was sitting crying. [And I would say:] Lyuba, stop it! Now I have taken (?her) to the cemetery. There are still debts. We still owe money here because we buried her. For the funeral. There her grave won't be thrown away, she won't be thrown out of her grave. Russian people, don't believe anyone. We're not wanted here. [Correspondent] Valter Aleksandrovich's wife, Lyuba, passed away in Italy in 2011. Now Litvinenko's family are scattered all over Europe. They don't have enough money. The elderly man and father is helped with food.