‘Putin is waging psychological warfare on UK in his game of who blinks first’

Vladimir Putin is playing a game of ‘who blinks first’ to scare off Western support for Ukraine, according to the widow of Alexander Litvinenko.   

Marina Litvinenko, speaking in a week of escalating tensions, said the Russian president is trying to sow fear and disunity among Kyiv’s allies.  

She told Metro that Putin is waging psychological warfare against the UK as he tries to retain a grip on power by prevailing on the battlefield.  

Ms Litvinenko’s husband, a former FSB officer, died 18 years ago tomorrow after being poisoned with the highly radioactive isotope polonium 210.    

‘Anybody who is right-minded is opposed to Putin’s war in Ukraine, no matter what party or politics you follow,’ she said.

‘Freedom and democracy are the fundamental rights for any country, and Ukraine is fighting for the right to be Ukrainian.  

‘The old democratic model which has been built since the Second World War, and the Budapest Memorandum [where Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees], is collapsing.

‘Someone with nuclear weapons and financial power is making up their own rules. This is a huge challenge for the whole world.

‘We are not simply talking about Ukraine as a country, we are talking about the fundamental idea of democracy.

‘This is about the free world as much as it is about Ukraine.’ 

Ms Litvinenko, 62, spoke today as Moscow continued to ratchet up tensions with the West in the wake of Joe Biden giving Ukraine permission to use long-range missiles to hit targets in Russia.

Putin has lowered the threshold for using his nuclear arsenal and effectively said that Moscow could carry out strikes on military facilities belonging to the UK and other countries backing Kyiv.  

A Russia-linked hybrid war is already playing out in the UK, leading to a warning from MI5 director-general Ken McCallum that ‘Putin’s henchmen’ are seeking to ‘generate mayhem’ on British and European streets.

Ms Litvinenko has experienced first-hand the Kremlin’s murderous reach when her husband, who she knows as Sasha, was poisoned by two Russian agents who slipped the polonium into his tea.  

A public inquiry in 2016 concluded that the hit was carried out three weeks before his death at the Millennium Hotel in London by Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, probably with Putin’s approval. 

Ms Litvinenko said: ‘Putin is using psychological warfare as a form of control. The tactic is to destablise Ukraine’s allies and to frighten them away from supporting Ukraine.  

‘For a long time Russia has gained power because the West has closed its eyes and not said the truth. 

‘Now we need to push back, and Russia will change.

‘But Russia will only change after Ukraine will win.

‘There’s a very simple cycle.’ 

Mr Litvinenko, a former intelligence officer who had found sanctuary in London with his family after exposing corruption in Russia, died in hospital on November 23, 2006.  

In an article the Kremlin critic wrote a few days before he was poisoned, he said of Putin: ‘If you don’t stop this monster, he will start a war and millions of people will die.’ 

In accordance with her husband’s wishes Ms Litvinenko, who lives in London, has continued to speak out against the Russian president.

‘Putin is making out that the West is crossing his red lines, but he is the one who has crossed the red lines,’ she said.

‘This is a game about who will blink first. Putin has been talking about using nuclear weapons since the war started three years ago and has not used them even when Ukraine conducted the operation in Kursk. 

‘From the beginning of the start of the full-scale war, it was obvious his military was not the second best in the world, it was just an illusion.

‘But Putin’s been allowed to continue his war for three years and if he succeeds in Ukraine it will be a much bigger war.’ 

Analysts have warned that the conflagration in the heart of Europe, where North Korean troops are serving under the Russian flag, is a pathway to a global conflict. Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s ex-military commander-in-chief, has warned that the ‘third world war has begun.’ 

Putin’s willingness to attempt a nuclear strike remains a matter of speculation and is thought to be at the heart of Washington’s foot-dragging in granting permission for Ukraine to use US-supplied long-range missiles to hit targets in Russia.  

‘We don’t know who Putin is, he was created from a nobody in St Petersburg to a strongman in the Kremlin,’ Ms Litvinenko said.  

‘He went from being an old school KGB officer to being a prime minister.  

‘Authors have described him as a shallow, angry and mean person not suited for statehood. 

‘I am sure he is not brave and he surrounds himself with security.  

‘The people around him want to benefit from Russian resources and have a luxury life. If he was crazy enough to say “push the nuclear button” I’m sure those people would stop him.’

The threats from the Kremlin have been further brought home by speculation concerning an incendiary device on a plane to Britain which caught fire at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham.

Counter-terrorism officers are reportedly investigating whether Russian operatives are behind the incident.

Widespread cyberattacks have also been linked to Russian threat actors. 

Ms Litvinenko told Metro the aggressive tactics and nuclear rhetoric mask a weaker framework propping up the wanted war criminal in the Kremlin.

‘The Russian state is not as strong as it tries to pretend,’ she said.  

‘Putin’s own future depends on the war in Ukraine, if he does not win, he will be removed by his supporters.’ 

‘Financial power, through sanctions, needs to be used against Putin, to make his state fail sooner.

‘Russia is still benefiting from trade and communication when the world is wondering why the war is still going on, it’s hypocrisy.’ 

Ms Litvinenko and their son, Anatoly, will observe the anniversary of Sasha’s death in a low-key way tomorrow with a small group of family and friends at his final resting place in Highgate. 

‘I have always been motivated to find who killed my husband but after the public inquiry verdict I was not sure what else I could do,’ she said.  

‘The agents are in Russia and Putin has not been extradited to the UK as the time is not right to do that, so all I do is wait.

‘But with the war in Ukraine I feel more and more that I can’t just feel easy and relax. I feel that people who know my personal experience might understand more.’ 

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