Posted on 11/28/2006 11:47:12 PM PST by MadIvan
The Kremlin mounted a concerted campaign yesterday to point the finger of suspicion at the billionaire businessman Boris Berezovsky over the death of his friend, Alexander Litvinenko, after traces of radioactive polonium-210 were found at the London offices of the exiled Russian oligarch.
Senior figures in the Russian establishment lined up to implicate Mr Berezovsky, who employed and funded the former KGB spy.
The billionaire, who has been granted asylum in Britain, last night issued a statement mourning Mr Litvinenko’s death and saying that he had “complete faith” that Scotland Yard would conduct a “thorough and professional investigation”.
Detectives are understood to want to question Mr Berezovsky in further detail about the events of November 1, the day that Mr Litvinenko fell ill.
Mr Berezovsky has declined to explain publicly why Mr Litvinenko, who was recently given British citizenship, visited his headquarters in Mayfair that day.
The billionaire has accused President Putin’s regime of being behind the murder.
In his first comment on the Litvinenko affair Tony Blair yesterday insisted that no “diplomatic or political barrier” would be permitted to obstruct the police inquiry, even if the evidence pointed to a statesponsored killing.
The Prime Minister, who was on a brief stopover in Copenhagen on his way to the Nato summit in Riga, said that Mr Litvinenko’s death was being treated as a “very, very serious matter”.
He added: “We are determined to find out what happened and who is responsible.”
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office declared that it was ready to assist the British police. A spokesman said that British detectives would be welcome to come to Moscow and would receive the Government’s full co-operation.
Mr Blair has been kept informed of developments in the inquiry, but he is not scheduled to meet President Putin in Riga. So far the Prime Minister has not spoken to Mr Putin about the case, but will do so when the time is “appropriate”.
Mr Putin has strenuously denied that the Russian authorities had anything to do with Mr Litvinenko’s death.
Police have questioned Mario Scaramella, an Italian nuclear expert who met Mr Litvinenko at a sushi bar in Piccadilly, where evidence of the radioactive poison was found. So far polonium-210 has been found at seven locations across London.
At one of those sites — 25 Grosvenor Street, the offices of Erinys, an international security company — a spokesman said that Mr Litvinenko did not work for them but had been visiting a friend there.
As Kremlin sources made their claims against Mr Berezovsky, a number of prominent politicians in Moscow named him publicly as a key figure in the affair.
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Duma’s foreign affairs committee, said that Mr Litvinenko was linked with “certain oligarchs, including Mr Berezovsky, who in recent years have been deprived of the chance to buy corrupt power with stolen money, and apparently cannot accept this”.
In the past Russia has tried to extradite him on financial charges but the request was refused by Britain after Mr Berezovsky argued that the charge was politically motivated.
Valery Dyatlenko, a deputy head of the security committee in the Duma, Russia’s lower house, told state television: “The death of Litvinenko — for Russia, for the security services — means nothing . . . I think this is another game of some kind by Berezovsky.”
Toxicologists tested for the presence of polonium-210 at more locations in Central London that had been visited by Mr Litvinenko on the day he fell ill.
Eight people have been sent for further tests at a specialist clinic by the Health Protection Agency to check for contamination. The agency has received more than 1,100 calls from members of the public worried that they might have been exposed to radiation, but officials insisted that there was little likelihood of any risk.
As the scale of the scare grew, John Reid, the Home Secretary, issued another statement that the risk to the public was minimal.
Special precautions will be in place for a Home Office pathologist to carry out a postmortem examination as well as a “special examination” of Mr Litvinenko’s body on Friday.
Andrew Reid, the Inner North London Coroner, said that the examination was necessary to fully investigate the cause of death.
Is that okay with you?
No, it is not. Calling people names is never OK with me. Why do you keep on doing that. Rusophobe is a person who does not like the Russain people. You keep on using that term indiscriminately.
To correctly identify people who hate everything Russian. That said, you seem to be okay with them attacking me.
If you haven't visited that link in the last day or so, you need to take another look and read their announcement about Polonium 210. (Their web server logs for the past week must look pretty interesting.) They claim you'd need 15,000 of their sources to have enough for poisoning. They sell one or two every quarter.
So to like Russia and the Russian people you have to love Putin. If you don't like Putin, you are a Russophobe.=
Oh my:). How you come to such conclusion? I just say very different thing. Some people here put thier anti-sovetism on Russians and equalize former soviets and Russians.
Putin is just one eloquent example. He is "guilty" just because he is Russian. That is all.
That is the example of what I told you about. So I don't exxagarate a bit.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1746191/posts#25
Very sorry to hear about these maniacs spreading their poison (literally) in your city.
I think you are on to something. Have you seen GarySpFc's posting history lately? He is obsessed on this subject. Obsessed with defending Putin.
And I found this latest post especially interesting:
British Airways Grounds 3 767s to Check for Polonium 210 ^
| Posted by GarySpFc to cricket On News/Activism ^ 11/30/2006 10:49:58 AM EST · 242 of 243 ^ Perhaps not having the 'cover' of the traveling Diplomat was thought the 'better way to go'. Tha amount of poison was so small there is no way more than one person could carry it. BTW, my information came from someone who works at an embassy. |
Clearly I have been posting. I am fed up with only one side of the story being told. The Russophobes have tried, convicted, and have recruited a firing squad. Waiting for the evidence simply does not fit their agenda.
It's clear that you see it as your mission to defend Russia and Putin against all comers no matter what.
And you have been doing that exclusive to all other interests for quite a long time.
The only question is why? Are you being paid or is it just a freelance jihad?
Just because you have a Russian wife and have been to Russia and know people at their embassy -- doesn't make you an expert on all things Russian.
But it does make you very suspicious as a possible plant.
>Clearly I have been posting. I am fed up with only one >side of the story being told. The Russophobes have tried, >convicted, and have recruited a firing squad. Waiting for >the evidence simply does not fit their agenda.
Ask Iran how they like teir brand new TorM1s to kill American pilots with, or Palestinians how they like their brand new Anti tank missiles.. is that enough evidence for you?
Maybe $7Mil to Hammas will help you understand what is going on, GaryKGBan..
>But it does make you very suspicious as a possible plant.
Nothing suspicious, everybody on FR knows Gary as a Russian KGB troll..
They also only bought about five batteries' worth.
My buddy has assured me the new Tomahawks can deal with the Tor-M1, without any problem.
Sounds like something we should have 007 look into.
>My buddy has assured me the new Tomahawks can deal with >the Tor-M1, without any problem.
Are you going to be responsible if one of Tomahawks misses and American pilots die?
By your logic it doesn't matter whom Putin helps as long as we have bigger weapon?
So what about Putin helping all our enemies - how could you protect him after that? Do you like Saddam too? Or Putin/KGB only?
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