Poisoned KGB Spy Dies in London

"A former Russian spy who said he had been poisoned died Thursday night at a London hospital, following a mysterious and rapid decline that left doctors puzzled over the cause of death, officials said.

Alexander Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, had suffered heart failure and was heavily sedated as medical staff struggled to pinpoint what had made the 43-year-old critically ill.

'The matter is being investigated as an unexplained death,' London's Metropolitan police said in a statement.

The former spy said he believed he had been poisoned on Nov. 1, while investigating the slaying of another Kremlin detractor - investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. His hair fell out, his throat became swollen and his immune and nervous systems were severely damaged, he said."

In a related story, the murdered former spy accused Putin for his poisoning and signed a statement on his death bed, according to friends.