12 posts tagged “litvinenko”

In an AP report just released, former KGB agent and friend of Alexander Litvinenko, Yuri Shvets, said he had given police the name of an individual who he believes orchestrated Litvinenko's assassination. It should be noted that Shvets has authored a book on his experiences in the KGB under cover as a journalist, and is also currently employed by CI Centre, and is on an active speaking circuit. The fact that he went public with his disclosures to Scotland Yard and the FBI would seem to cast some doubt on his credibility as a source. He says he did speak with Litvinenko by telephone the day he died. Here is his consolidated statement to the AP:

"The truth is, we have an act of international terrorism on our hands. I happen to believe I know who is behind the death of my friend Sasha (Litvinenko) and the reason for his murder. ...This is first hand information, this is not gossip. I gave them the first hand information that I have.

 

I want this inquiry to get to the bottom of it, otherwise they will be killing people all over the world -- in London, in Washington and in other places. I want to give the police the time and space to crack this case, to allow them to find those behind this assassination, the last thing I want to do is give a warning to those who are responsible...I want to survive until the time we have a criminal case in relation to Sasha's death brought before a court in London"

To view the full report, CLICK HERE

This OpEd from The Times dates back to May 2005, but now--a year and a half later--it seems an ominous portend of recent events in Europe and Russia....

From Russia with secrets

By Vanora Bennett

Until recently, Mr Litvinenko was a lieutenant-colonel in the Russian secret police. He claims to know some of the darkest dealings of his country's recent past

There's something very un-English about murderers who dispatch their victims too flamboyantly. Louis Untermeyer expressed British puzzlement when faced with showy foreign killers perfectly in the lines:

Although the Borgias
Were rather gorgeous
They liked the absurder
Kind of murder.

That's why people in this country find stories about the KGB so extraordinary. The sheer swaggering theatricality of the kind of killings the Soviet secret police were said to favour, beggars the average English person's belief. Tell an Englishman that an assassin might choose to kill someone innocently waiting for a London bus by jabbing him with an umbrella tip containing a pellet of the rare and virtually untraceable poison ricin, and the Englishman's first reaction will be to laugh in disbelief. Why bother with such elaborate cloak-and-dagger tactics? If you want to bump someone off, why not just push him under the bus?

Yet, however much it sticks in English gullets, that is exactly the way the KGB did behave. Ricin was used in the James Bond-style murder in London in 1978 of the Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov. He was jabbed with a poisoned umbrella tip while waiting for a bus on London Bridge, and died four days later. The KGB was blamed.

Anyone who thinks the secret police learned to behave better after the Soviet Union disintegrated - and the Soviet KGB was reformed and renamed the Russian FSB - will definitely want to gasp and stretch their eyes at almost everything a more recent arrival in London has been saying since he got here.

Alexander Litvinenko came to the British capital five years ago. He's a fair-haired man of about 40 with quiet ways and watchful eyes. He has a wife and a son coming up to his teens. They've all lived unobtrusively in a leafy bit of suburban London since leaving Moscow...READ MORE

NPR has a great series of stories on the Litvinenko Assassination, including a Scott Simon interview with David Wise, who writes about international espionage.
To view, CLICK HERE

NPR has a great series of stories on the Litvinenko Assassination, including a Scott Simon interview with David Wise, who writes about international espionage.

To view, CLICK HERE

This excerpted news analysis from CBS' Tucker Reals provides some speculation on who may be responsible for the Litvinenko assassination. Not mentioned as having responsibility or knowledge of Litvinenko's poisoning are Russia's organized crime network bosses: The largest organized crime groups in Moscow are the Ostankino and Lubertsy organizations. Grigory Luchansky is the President of the foreign exchange business, Nordex. In St. Petersburg, it's the Tambov syndicate headed by Vladimir Gavrilenkov. Also on the list, there's also the Chechen mafia--such as the Obshina headed by Nikolay Suleimanov....

 

Vladimir Putin

Litvinenko himself blamed the very Russian security services from which he defected for his death, or at least a statement he supposedly wrote on his deathbed that was read immediately after his death did.

Motive: When he defected to England, the former spy took up a new life as a full-time Moscow/Kremlin critic. He was investigating the murder of veteran Russian journalist and fellow Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskya, and based on an e-mail given to him by an Italian contact (who I'll get to later), he was about to implicate Putin's henchmen in her shooting.

Opportunity: Getting a hold of some polonium and smuggling it into the U.K., then somehow getting it into Litvinenko is tricky. But Vladimir Putin runs a huge country with all the nuclear technology it could possibly need, lots of money, and a vast network of some of the best trained secret operatives in the world. The resources are there.

But did he do it? Our Moscow bureau chief tells me Litvinenko was little known in Russia before his death, and his opposition work was more a nuisance than a catastrophe for Putin.

Furthermore, being a legal U.K. resident, and given the pressure already brought upon the Kremlin by Politkovskya's murder, Putin had much more to lose in the way of international prestige through Litvinenko's murder than he did from Litvinenko's accusations.

But there is evidence, sort of. The day he got sick, the ex-spy met with two Russian men at a London hotel, one of whom, he told police, he didn't recognize. Could the man have been a Russian agent? Sure he could have.

Then there are the planes. Two aircraft that have recently flown routes between London and Moscow tested positive for traces of polonium-210 and another is grounded in Moscow awaiting tests. Police want to check out at least two more. But the planes also landed at hundred's of other airports before being parked.

And even if it is determined that the chemical was flown into London from Russia, it could easily have been at the request of someone elsewhere … or even an elaborate tactic to confuse investigators.

 

Boris Berezovsky

Litvinenko's new life in London was funded by another exiled Russian with fierce anti-Kremlin views: Boris Berezovsky.

The billionaire is often referred to as Litvinenko's mentor, and he made his central London office available to the former spy for phone calls and other practical visits. That office is one of the six locations where police found traces of polonium-210.

Motive: Berezovsky made his billions in the '90s when the Russian government privatized lots of industry. Like a handful of others, he bought in, and got very rich — earning himself the title "oligarch." Then the government charged him with fraud and tax evasion and he fled to London, a wanted man.

Berezovsky has long been loudly and publicly critical of Putin's leadership. But now there are rumblings that he may actually be trying to instigate a forced overthrow of the Kremlin — a concept he's mentioned before.

Former Russian premier Yegor Gaidar became violently ill at a conference in Ireland one day after Litvinenko died. He's recovering in a Moscow hospital and doctors have said he was, in fact, poisoned.

We don't know, but the symptoms — a rapid onset of vomiting and fainting — sure sound like a milder version of what Litvinenko described.

"The chain of deaths of ... Politkovskya, Litvinenko and Gaidar, would perfectly correspond to the interests and the vision of those people who are openly talking about a forceful, unconstitutional change of power in Russia as a possible option," said Anatoly Chubais, a top official under former President Boris Yeltsin who now heads the national electricity monopoly.

Chubais' remarks on Russian television didn't name names, but those "people" he referred to were very likely Berezovsky and his cohorts.

In short, Berezovsky could have killed his friend to make Putin look bad, real bad, and/or to instigate a revolution in Russia. Not very nice, but this is business we're talking about.

Opportunity: Money may not buy love, but will buy anything else, and polonium-210 is no exception. A quick online search and look at the blogs reveals that the radioactive poison may be available for as little as 70 bucks to whoever wants it.

Berezovsky has plenty of money. He could easily have acquired some polonium-210 and used his many contacts (remember — he was very well acquainted with Litvinenko, and surely has other spies and security operatives in his little black book) to poison his buddy.

But did he do it? Who knows, but lots of people very familiar with Russian politics and affairs consider him the prime suspect.

Berezovsky, I should now mention, has flatly denied any involvement in Litvinenko's death.

 

Mario Scaramella

On Nov. 1, just before getting sick, Litvinenko met Mario Scaramella at a sushi restaurant in London.

Scaramella, an Italian security expert, had called Litvinenko to request the meeting. He wanted to give the former spy a copy of an e-mail that allegedly showed both men's names on a hit-list for Russian agents that also included Politkovskya.

The Italian went back to Rome after their meeting, but returned to London for a chat with the police and to be tested for contamination with the deadly isotope.

It came out Friday that the Italian was being hospitalized after the health agency confirmed that another individual had tested positive for contamination with a "significant quantity" of polonium-210. It's Mr. Scaramella.

You'll note the lack of subheadings used above — that's because if Scaramella did have a reason to want Litvinenko dead, it eludes me.

Friday's development that he is poisoned with the same stuff only bolsters the doubt in my mind that he's the culprit.

He surely knows a lot of people and could afford some polonium at 70 bucks a pop, but I have seen or read nothing suggesting he would have, or could have killed this man....
Read the Entire Article: London's Better-Than-Bond Spy Story

Salon: Who poisoned the KGB agent?

 

Litvinenko Inquiry Centers on 12 Sites, 5 Airplanes
by Rob Gifford

To Listen to this Report, CLICK HERE

All Things Considered, November 30, 2006 · British police investigating former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko's death in London say they have found traces of radioactivity at 12 sites in the city -- and in five aircraft, as well. The Kremlin has consistently denied any involvement in the death of Litvinenko, who blamed President Vladimir Putin for his death.

The apparent murder of Litvinenko has unfolded into a story with very broad implications, even involving public health. And in Russia, doctors believe a former Russian prime minister may have been poisoned as well.

In Parliament, Britain's Home Secretary John Reid linked the contamination in London to polonium-210, the radioactive element found in Litvinenko's body. He said that about 24 sites were being investigated, and 12 of them had shown traces of radioactivity.... READ MORE

The First Post: Litvinenko poisoning: the plot thickensTwo people have died and a third is now ill. philip jacobson reports on Moscow’s ‘chain of death’

The BBC is reporting that Mario Scaramella has significant amounts of Polonium in his body:

Man tests positive for radiation
Italian Mario Scaramella, a contact of dead ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, has tested positive for polonium-210.
Mr Scaramella is not thought to be suffering symptoms but significant amounts of the substance have been found in the academic's body.
He met Mr Litvinenko at sushi restaurant Itsu in central London on the day he fell ill.
Meanwhile, the post-mortem examination on Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB agent, has started.
Those present at the examination at the Royal London Hospital, in east London, will wear protective clothing to avoid contamination by traces of the polonium-210 isotope.
Mr Scaramella is involved in an Italian parliamentary inquiry into KGB activity and was sufficiently worried by the contents of an e-mail to ask for advice from Mr Litvinenko.
They met at Itsu on 1 November, although in the aftermath the Italian academic suggested he had not eaten anything.
A Health Protection Agency statement said: "The agency can confirm it was informed this morning that tests have established that a further person - who was in direct and very close contact with Mr Litvinenko - has a significant quantity of the radioactive isotope Polonium-210 in their body.

Here's an article excerpt from Foreign Policy Magazine on the political assassinations that have occurred this year:

The shooting death of Lebanese Minister Pierre Gemayel and the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko were the most prominent political murders of 2006. But, as this week’s List shows, their assassinations aren’t the only ones setting off political crises and stoking intrigue. To read more, go to: The List: The Political Assassinations of 2006

Former Russian KGB colonel and dissident, Alexander Litvinenko, speaking at Frontline shortly before he was poisoned in a London restaurant.