 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Andrey Lugovoy" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Andrey Lugovoy | |
|---|---|
| Андрей Луговой | |
 Lugovoy (2019) | |
| Member of the State Duma (Party List Seat) | |
| Assumed office 24 December 2007 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1966-09-19)19 September 1966 (age 59) |
| Political party | Liberal Democratic |
Andrey Konstantinovich Lugovoy (Russian:Андре́й Константи́нович Лугово́й; born 19 September 1966), also spelledLugovoi, is a Russian politician and businessman anddeputy of theState Duma, thelower house of theRussian parliament, for theLiberal Democratic Party of Russia. He worked as aKGB bodyguard and as head of "Ninth Wave", a security firm.
He is wanted by British police on suspicion of themurder of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB and laterFSB officer. Russia has rejected the request for his extradition, as thecountry's constitution forbids the extradition of its own citizens.[1]
Born in 1966 inBaku, Lugovoy attended the eliteMoscow Higher Military Command School of theSoviet Army from 1983 to 1987.[2][3][4]
In 1987, he joined the KGB's9th directorate which provided security for top state officials. He was aplatoon commander for five years and then served as a commander in theKremlin Regiment's training company. In 1991, he was transferred to theFederal Protective Service of Russia until his resignation at the end of 1996. During this time he provided security forPrime MinisterYegor Gaidar,the head of thepresidential administrationSergey Filatov andForeign MinisterAndrey Kozyrev.[2][5]
Lugovoy went on to work in theprivate security business. From 1996 to 2000, he both headed security at the television companyORT, then owned by tycoonsBoris Berezovsky andBadri Patarkatsishvili, and also headed Patarkatsishvili's family and personal security unit.[6][7] In 2001, Lugovoy was arrested and charged[needs update] with organizing the escape ofNikolai Glushkov, a former deputy director-general ofAeroflot arrested in 2000 onfraud charges.[8]
Lugovoy met with Litvinenko on the day Litvinenko fell ill (1 November 2006). Litvinenko died later in November from radiation poisoning caused bypolonium-210, and, on 22 May 2007, British officials charged Lugovoy with Litvinenko's murder, announcing they would seek hisextradition from Russia. Russia declined to extradite Lugovoy, citing that extradition of citizens is not allowed under the Russian constitution.
Lugovoy had visited London at least three times in the month before Litvinenko's death and met with him four times. Lugovoy met with Litvinenko on the day he fell ill (1 November). Traces of polonium-210 have been discovered in all three hotels where Lugovoy stayed after flying to London on 16 October, in the Pescatori restaurant,Dover Street,Mayfair, where Lugovoy is understood to have dined before 1 November and aboard two aircraft on which he had traveled.[9] He was treated at a Moscow hospital for suspected radiation poisoning but declined to say whether he had been contaminated with polonium-210, the substance that led to Litvinenko's death on 23 November 2006.[10]
In 2021 theEuropean Court of Human Rights (ECHR) inStrasbourg foundbeyond reasonable doubt that Andrey Lugovoy andDmitry Kovtun killed Litvinenko.[18]
Following the interest in Lugovoy in regards to Litvinenko's death, on 15 September 2007,Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of theLiberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), announced that Lugovoy would be in the second place after Zhirinovsky on his party's candidate list for theDuma election. This meant that Lugovoy could become a Russian MP in December 2007 and acquire parliamentary immunity. Lugovoy himself confirmed that he would take part in the following Duma election[citation needed] and on 17 September 2007, during a Liberal Democratic Party of Russia meeting, has also said he would like to bid for the Kremlin run.[19]
On 10 December 2007, British Ambassador in Moscow Tony Brenton voiced regret over the election of Lugovoy to the Duma, saying:
It is a pity that a man wanted for murder gains political recognition. It does Russia no good at all to have Lugovoy there in the parliament. It continues the suspicion. If he steps a foot out of Russia he will be arrested. We want him.
In December 2008, Lugovoy voiced support for harsher laws against dissent in Russia. He told theSpanish newspaperEl País
"If someone has caused the Russian state serious damage, they should be exterminated. […] Do I think someone could have killed Litvinenko in the interests of the Russian State? If you're talking about the interests of the Russian State, in the purest sense of the word, I myself would have given that order." He then clarified himself: "I'm not talking about Litvinenko but about any person who causes serious damage."[20]
Lugovoy namedPresidentSaakashvili ofGeorgia and the KGB defectorGordievsky as examples.[21]
On 13 March 2009, the LDPR announced it plans to nominate Lugovoy for the elections of Mayor ofSochi.[22] On 24 March, Lugovoy announced his decision not to run and instead to remain an MP in the Duma.[23]
In 2007-2011 Andrey Lugovoy was a deputy of the5th State Duma. In 2011-2016 he was a deputy of the6th State Duma. In 2016-2021 he was elected a deputy of the7th State Duma. Since 2021 he has been a deputy of the8th State Duma.[24]
On 9 January 2017, under theMagnitsky Act, theUnited States Treasury'sOffice of Foreign Assets Control updated its Specially Designated Nationals List and blacklistedAleksandr I. Bastrykin, Andrei K. Lugovoi,Dmitri V. Kovtun, Stanislav Gordievsky, and Gennady Plaksin, whichfroze any of their assets held by American financial institutions or transactions with those institutions and banned their travelling to the United States.[25][26][27][28]
The politician has adult daughters and a son.[29]
In October 2012, he held a lavish wedding in Abrau-Dyurso, marrying 23-year-old (born July 26, 1989) student Kseniya Alekseyevna Perova.[30][31][32][33]
Lugovoy owns a 500 m2 plot of land in Krasnodar Krai.[34] He also owns two residential houses measuring 550 m2 and 165.5 m2, respectively.[34][35] The Lugovoy family has a 368 m2 apartment in a historic 1904 building on Lyalin Lane in Moscow, along with a 12.9 m2 non-residential space.[34] In 2019, Kseniya Lugovaya purchased a 200.1 m2 apartment in the same building for 51 million rubles.[34][36][37]
In the 2022ITVX miniseriesLitvinenko, Lugovoy was portrayed by Rad Kaim.[38]
In 2015 Lugovoy was awarded the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (II degree).[24]
Media related toAndrey Lugovoy at Wikimedia Commons