People walk past the entrance to the restaurant where Alexander Litvinenko may have been poisoned in London. AP PHOTO

The government announced an inquest into his death and British Home Secretary John Reid warned against rushing to conclusions over who might be responsible for the death of the former KGB agent turned Kremlin critic. He died after what doctors said was polonium-210 poisoning.

The substance is deadly if ingested or inhaled. Reid said the tests on the three people were only a precaution. High doses of polonium-210 -- a rare radioactive element -- were found in Litvinenko's body.

"The nature of this radiation is such that it does not travel over long distances and therefore there is no need for public alarm," Reid said in the House of Commons.

In the strongest comments leveled at Moscow since the ex-spy's death, Cabinet minister Peter Hain on Nov. 26 accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of presiding over "attacks on liberty and on democracy" and acknowledged that relations between London and Moscow were at a difficult stage.

Hain, the government's Northern Ireland secretary, said Putin's tenure had been clouded by incidents "including an extremely murky murder of the senior Russian journalist" Anna Politkovskaya.

The ex-spy told police he believed he was poisoned Nov. 1 while investigating the October slaying of Politkovskaya, a critic of Putin's government.

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 2, 2006
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