Litvinenko's wife says inquiry will finally reveal facts of ex-KGB spy's death

Marina Litvinenko, the wife of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko who was murdered in London in 2006, speaks outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London July 31, 2014. REUTERS/Toby Melville

LONDON (Reuters) - Nine years after former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in a plush London hotel in what has been described as Russian "state-sponsored nuclear terrorism", a public inquiry into his death finally begins in the British capital next week.

Kremlin-critic Litvinenko, who had been granted British citizenship, died after drinking tea poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in November 2006 and from his deathbed he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder.