[marden]

Poisoned Russian Spy Accused Russian Pres. Putin

We have somehow managed to avoid any mention of the radiation poisoning of former Russian KGB spy, Alexander Litvinenko, whose deathbed statement accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing him, presumably to prevent his investigating or speaking out on the shooting of
left wing Russian reporter, Anna Politkovskaya.

Mr Litvinenko, 50, who used to work for the Federal Security Bureau (FSB, the former KGB), fell ill after meeting a contact at Itsu, a sushi restaurant in Piccadilly. The woman journalist claimed to have information on the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, 48, the outspoken journalist who was killed at her Moscow apartment last month.

A close friend of Mr Litvinenko said last night: "Alexander has no doubt that he was poisoned at the instigation of the Russian government." He has been living at a secret address in London with his wife and son because he feared he might be targeted by political opponents. Telegraph | News | Leading Russian critic of Putin's regime is poisoned in London

Because we have missed so much of the story til now I am pasting an entire article as a surrogate for what an exchange of posts might have helped reveal had the thread been started earlier.

Spy's contact and wife also poisoned

By Duncan Gardham and John Steele
Last Updated: 1:47am GMT 02/12/2006

A new radiation alert was issued last night after it emerged that a second man on the hit-list handed to the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has been poisoned.

Tests have also shown that Mr Litvinenko's wife, Marina, has been exposed to radiation, although John Reid, the Home Secretary, said last night that there was "no reason for concern in the short term".

Mario Scaramella, an Italian investigator who had lunch in a sushi bar with Mr Litvinenko and flew back to Britain to help police on Tuesday, has been found with a "significant amount" of the same radioactive element in his body.

The Health Protection Agency said Mr Scaramella, whom it did not officially name, had received quantities of polonium 210 "likely to be of concern for [his] immediate health".

He is being treated at University College Hospital in central London where Mr Litvinenko died on Thursday last week.

A post-mortem examination was carried out yesterday on Mr Litvinenko's body but the results are not expected for several days.

The Daily Telegraph has been told that Mr Litvinenko had converted to Islam.

Akhmed Zakayev, the leading Chechen dissident who lived next door to Mr Litvinenko, said: "He was read to from the Koran the day before he died and had told his wife and family that he wanted to be buried in accordance with Muslim tradition."

Yesterday the Government's Cobra emergency planning committee met to discuss the latest developments. A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "Clearly there is another trail — literally — that the police have now to work out and for the agencies to examine. We will be looking for information about where he's been and what he's been doing."

The Italian authorities were also alerted to the dangers. "They may now need to take steps," the spokesman said. "For example, they have the same predicament about airlines that we faced."

So far 2,655 people have contacted NHS Direct fearing that they may have been in contact with the substance, with 356 asked to provide a urine sample for analysis. This figure could rise as police pinpoint Mr Scaramella's movements in Britain.

Last night the Ashdown Park Hotel in East Sussex, where Mr Scaramella had been staying since his return to this country, was being checked for signs of radiation.

Mr Litvinenko's home in north London, to which he returned after his meetings on Nov 1 and before he was taken ill that evening, has already shown signs of radiation.

Scientists at Aldermaston have been able to identify the polonium 210 as manmade and it is believed they have identified a Russian reactor as the probable source.

Health experts say Mr Scaramella probably ingested the radioactive isotope at the same time as Litvinenko, although he received a smaller dose.

Mr Scaramella met Mr Litvinenko at the Itsu sushi restaurant in Piccadilly for lunch on Nov 1. During the half-hour meeting Mr Scaramella handed him a list that named both men, as well as the exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky and the Italian senator Paolo Guzzanti, who had led the Mitrokhin Commission investigation into the KGB's activities in Italy.

A friend of Mr Berezovsky said last night: "He can't believe what is happening. He has had a test but has not had the results yet. He is not showing any symptoms."

Police believe that Mr Litvinenko went on to meet three Russians, one a former KGB agent, at the Pine Bar in the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, where traces of radiation have also been found.

It is believed that he also visited a private security firm on Grosvenor Street and an investment company linked to the giant Russian oil firm Yukos, which has offices opposite. Police have also found traces of polonium 210 at rooms on the eighth floor of the Sheraton hotel in Park Lane.

They believe the substance was brought into the country on a British Airways flight from Moscow on Oct 25, but other flights have also shown signs of contamination.

Telegraph | News | Spy's contact and wife also poisoned

I think we should finally start a thread to follow this matter. Better late than never. And the story seems to have 'legs.'

[black bear theory]

Originally Posted by marden 

I think we should finally start a thread to follow this matter. Better late than never. And the story seems to have 'legs.'

Let's Look At Russia & Putin For A Minute wasn't good enough?

[marden]

Originally Posted by black bear theory 

Let's Look At Russia & Putin For A Minute wasn't good enough?

Russia's overall strategy and actions, the big picture, are the subject of that thread. If we begin to look at Russia's relationships with Islamist adversaries (such as Iran) on a large scale while Russia also attacks, silences and eliminates Islamist operatives in Chechnya and we just discovered, Livinenko, there are all sorts of angles to explore on that large scale.

One angle to explore of Russia's strategy or action is the silencing or elimination of government critics. The particulars of the elimination of Litvinenko and Politkovskaya and others is particularly interesting and deserve scrutiny.