Andrey Lugovoy (right) has been wanted for murder by British police since the 2006 killing of Alexander Litvinenko (left) (Picture: Getty)

One of the Russian agents wanted for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko has reportedly developed advanced cancer from the same radioactive poison used in the assassination.

Andrey Lugovoy, a Russian politician who previously worked as a KGB bodyguard, is wanted by British police for the 2006 murder in London. 

Litvinenko, a former FSB and KGB officer, suffered an agonising death in hospital after unwittingly ingesting Polonium-210, a highly toxic radioactive isotope.

A subsequent public inquiry in 2016, upheld by a 2021 ruling from the European Court of Human Rights, found Lugovoy and his associate Dmitri Kovtun guilty of the killing.

Online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported this week that medical documents obtained by Inform-Napalm, a Ukrainian cyber resistance outfit, indicate Lugovoy has developed prostate cancer. 

They also suggest he ‘refused surgery and radiation therapy’ after doctors recommended ‘radical treatment’ for the disease, the Sun reports. 

Lugovoy announced earlier in May that email accounts belonging to himself and his wife, the singer Ksenia Lugovaya, had likely been hacked by Ukrainian actors.

Russia has long refused to comply both with the international warrant of Lugovoy’s arrest and with an ECHR ruling requiring the state to pay 100,000 euros to Litvinenko’s widow Marina (Picture: AFP)

The leaked documents reportedly further indicate that Lugovoy has ‘refused surgery and radiation therapy’ despite doctors advising he would require ‘radical treatment.’

Russia has long denied any involvement in Litvinenko’s death, refusing to comply with the international warrant for Lugovoy’s arrest as well as the ECHR ruling requiring the state to pay out 100,000 euros in compensation to Litvinenko’s widow Marina. 

Prior to his death, Litvinenko was a staunch critic of the Putin regime, and assisted British intelligence with operations against Russian organised crime in Europe (Picture: Getty)

Kovtun meanwhile is reported to have died at hospital in Moscow last year due to complications from Covid-19, according to Russian state media reports. 

Litvinenko fled Russia in 2000 to claim political asylum in the UK, taking up work as a journalist and author.

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Two years later, he was convicted in absentia by a Russian court and handed a three-and-a-half year jail sentence on charges of corruption. 

After his 2006, Litvinenko’s widow Marina claimed he had actively worked with British intelligence to assist in operations against Russian organised crime in Europe, especially Spain, which was subsequently confirmed by the 2016 inquiry into his death.

Last year, ITVX aired a four-part dramatisation of Marina Litvinenko’s fight with the help of London police to prove Lugovoy and Kovtun’s guilt.

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Andrey Lugovoy has been wanted for murder by British police since the 2006 killing.