The British government has announced a public inquiry to investigate who was behind the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy poisoned with radioactive tea in London in 2006.

Last year, the British government rejected a request for an inquiry into the killing of Litvinenko, who died after drinking tea poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in a plush London hotel, leading to accusations it wanted to appease the Kremlin which has always denied any involvement in the death.



New investigation: Alexander Litvinenko in hopsital after being poisoned in November 2006. Credit:Reuters

However, the reversal of that decision comes as British Prime Minister David Cameron leads calls for hard-hitting sanctions against Russia, including freezing the assets of Putin's close allies, after the downing of Malaysian airliner MH17 in Ukraine last week.



The inquiry will be able to look at whether the Russian state was behind the mysterious killing of Kremlin critic Litvinenko, which outraged London at the time and plunged relations with Moscow into the deep freeze.