Posted on 11/28/2006 6:00:28 AM PST by GarySpFc
LONDON, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - British police said Tuesday they had found traces of a radioactive isotope believed to have killed a Russian ex-spy, in an office building of his associate, fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.
Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian intelligence defector, died Thursday in a London hospital with symptoms of radioactive poisoning. British health officials said Friday a large dose of Po-210, a toxic uranium by-product, had been found in his body.
Berezovsky, a billionaire with British citizenship wanted in Russia for fraud, whose office is located at 7 Down Street, Mayfair, declined to comment on the radiation discovery.
"I will make no comments until Scotland Yard finishes its investigation. Let others comment, I will wait," he said over the phone.
The businessman also declined to say whether he had been questioned by police.
Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, who defected from Russia's security service in 2000 and became a British national in October, reportedly visited the building to make a copy of documents he had received from an Italian contact, Mario Scaramella, on November 1.
Litvinenko said Scaramella had sent him an e-mail relating to an investigation into the killing of his friend, investigative journalist and Kremlin opponent Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in Moscow in October.
Polonium-210 radiation traces have also been discovered at 25 Grosvenor Square, about 400 yards from Millenium Hotel where Litvinenko met with his Russian contacts on November 1.
Nikolai Kovalev, former head of the KGB's successor, the FSB, said the discovery of polonium in Berezovsky's office could imply his involvement in Litvinenko's death.
"Boris Berezovsky's involvement has been further proved," Kovalev said, adding that Berezovsky and Litvinenko could have been preparing an operation using polonium.
After Litvinenko died, the Western press circulated a statement allegedly written by him, in which Litvinenko accused the Kremlin of orchestrating his death.
"The ultimate target of the operation could have been to promote KGB phobia, and to show that Russia is ruled by KGB people," said Kovalev, also a member of parliament.
Kovalev said Berezovsky, if he is involved in the incident, had already taken care of his alibi and would now accuse special services of trying to kill him.
"He is keeping silent, which means he is preparing for a news conference where he will say he had expected polonium traces to be found in his office, and will start saying on all corners that the special services tried to kill him," Kovalev said.
Kovalev said Litvinenko could have neglected safety rules in handling a polonium container.
"The container was handed over to Litvinenko, but the curious young man got into it or did something wrong, contrary to Berezovsky's scenario," he said.
Another possibility, he said, could be that Berezovsky deliberately poisoned Litvinenko.
"I do not rule it out that there was some plan aimed against Litvinenko," Kovalev said. "Perhaps, Boris Abramovich [Berezovsky's patronymic] wanted to kill several birds with one stone."
Still shilling for your man Putin I see.
Too bad the game is up for RasPutin
Russia: The Enemy
November 28, 2006; Page A15
It's time we start thinking of Vladimir Putin's Russia as an enemy of the United States.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116468651000734270.html?mod=opinion_main_featured_stories_hs
Who benefits.
Berezovsky discredited, and the spy dead?
Putin and the KGB of course.
Does anyone seriously believe that Berezovsky was sitting at his desk in Mayfair playing with a load of Polonium?
The perfect KGB stitch up, kill the spy and finger the political enemy.
Putin wrote a column recently in the Financial Times titled, "Europe has nothing to fear from Russia". In it he states, "Co-operation between our industries is gathering momentum, and our justice and interior ministries are participating energetically in dialogue". Russia has a justice ministry? I'm sure imprisoned CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky would disagree.
Yeah. And the old NKVD method of execution by a "noodle" to the back of the head results in.... your face being blown off.
Spin spin spin. EVERYONE is guilty except your buddy RasPutin.
Yeah shooting in the back of the head looks far worse. Exit wounds tend to be much much larger then entry wounds. Fact, not like YOUR spin.
Oh horse sh#t. I've seen HUNDREDS of gun shot wounds in my career. Fired point blank thats plenty of kinetic energy to exit the face. The cranial vault is a closed space and that KE has to go SOMEWHERE. The bones of the orbits and sinus's are in some areas paper thin. But keep shilling for your man Putin.
And there are many rounds which will blow the head apart, but not these two. Prior to my retraining as a demolitions expert in Special Forces, I was a light weapons expert on our team. Plenty of rounds will go through a skull, but the .380 ACP 9x17 and the Makarov 9x18, with silencer just do not have the penetrating power. Now if you are talking about the regular 9mm 9x19 or a .38, then I would agree. However, I carry a .380 ACP as CCW, but it's not my primary weapon by any means.
Go crawl back in your hole.
So you think Putin is innocent. How nice.
I didn't say 'blow the head apart" . I said "exit the face". I've seen plenty of 380 rounds do just that. Once though the skull it only needs to penetrate some jello ( the brain) and some very thin bone in the orbit or sinus, making one hell of a mess. Ditto 9 mm. Even .32 cal. So don't tell me it doesn't happen. I've treated LOTs of GSW in my life. I've worke ER since the 70's in Chicago, LA, New York, Houston and San Antonio.
Hmmmm... perhaps there is a misunderstanding. My posting the STFU of Putin wasn't directed as a message from me telling you to STFU, it was sarcasm directed at the hitman Putin.
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