Foreign Affairs Scope: Putin 'probably' ordered the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006
Nathan Smith on whether Putin "probably" ordered the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko.
A report from UK judge Robert Owen shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably” ordered the assassination of former intelligence officer and dissident Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
Mr Litvinenko defected to London in 2000 and had threatened to expose sensitive information about the Putin regime and alleged high levels of corruption in the Federal Security Service (FSB). But his death ironically confirmed the accusations, proving that little has changed in Russia since the end of the Cold War.
In the Western Pacific, the US guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) by sailing within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island near Paracel Islands group. Control of the Paracels is disputed between China and Vietnam.
However, the FONOP highlights that the connecting glue between the major players in the region (China, Japan and the US) is freedom of navigation. Trillions of dollars of goods float across the waters each year and the US demand to sail anywhere, any time is a bedrock of international law.
Further north, the US announced it could enter into talks with South Korea about the potential deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery on the peninsula. Seoul is increasingly concerned that North Korean submarine and land-based ballistic missile programmes are more advanced than currently understood.
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Foreign Affairs Scope: Putin 'probably' ordered the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006
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