President Putin 'probably' approved London assassination of Alexander Litvinenko

President Vladimir Putin "probably" approved the assassination of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, a public inquiry has found.

In a dramatic conclusion, Sir Robert Owen said it was likely the Russian leader signed off the killing of the former spy following a long-running feud.

His 300-page report said Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun were probably acting under the direction of Moscow's FSB intelligence service when they poisoned the 43-year-old with radioactive polonium 210 at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair.

Singling out then-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev alongside Mr Putin, Sir Robert wrote: "Taking full account of all the evidence and analysis available to me I find that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin."