More on the Russian Spy

Scotland Yard confirms that a major dose of radiation poisoning was found in Alexander Litvinenko's body.

The former spy also blamed Putin for his death, in a letter he dictated two days before he died.

In the statement, read out by his friend Alex Goldfarb outside University College Hospital, London, Mr Litvinenko said he had a "message to the person responsible for my present condition".

"You may succeed in silencing me, but that silence comes at a price.

"You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed."

"The howl of protest from around the world will reverberate Mr Putin in your ears for the rest of your life," the statement added.

First, it was Anna Politkovskaya. Now, Alexander Litvinenko.

I don't know how much of a popular figure either one was in their homeland, but when Benigno Aquino was assassinated on the airport tarmac in Manila in 1983, it became the catalyst for the unprecedented People Power Movement in the Philippines that toppled Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

It remains to be seen how the Russian people will react to this cloud hanging over their President.



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