University of Notre Dame Professor of Political Science Michael Desch, an expert on international security, says…
"The striking thing about British judge Robert Owen's much anticipated report about the death of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko is that hardly settles the matter. Most people, including Litvinenko before his death from Polonium poisoning in 2006, suspected that the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the state security apparatus were somehow involved. All Judge Owen's report does is assemble the circumstantial and deductive evidence in one place but it really does not put it to rest given the complex politics of post-Soviet Russia. If this case were being heard in Scotland, the jury would likely return a verdict of "not proven," rather than guilty or not guilty. Moreover, it hardly matters because the world still has to deal with Putin as the leader of Russia."
Desch, co-director of the Notre Dame International Security Center, is available for further comment at [email protected]
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