From the floor of the House of Commons Thursday, Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May accused Russia of a “blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenants of international law” after a report found that Russian President Vladimir Putin most likely approved the death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko used to work for the KGB, then turned to work for British intelligence investigating Russian organized crime. He was poisoned in 2006 after someone slipped plutonium into his cup of green tea. About three weeks later, he died of radiation poisoning.

Lest we think this doesn’t happen in the United States, just consider the suspicious death of Putin’s former propaganda chief Mikhail Lesin. In November 2015, Lesin, founder of Russia Today, was found dead in a DuPont Circle hotel. Putin’s government reported that Lesin died of a heart attack, but the District of Columbia Medical Examiners Office has yet to disclose its autopsy report — even though it finished the procedure two months ago. Most writing about the intelligence game is done with a theory and circumstantial evidence, and The Daily Beast’s article has strong circumstantial evidence that Lesin was ​possibly​ going ​to strike a deal with U.S. law enforcement — give them information in exchange for little or no prosecution over his shady business dealings in the states. But it seems like a Russian-paid assassin got to Lesin before the U.S. could. In the midst of Putin’s spy game, the Obama administration and Britain want the country to cooperate to stop the Islamic State, and to institute a regime change in Syria. But if Putin is bold enough to possibly order a hit on U.S. soil, then the West should rethink its relationship with the old Soviet.