If the Russians wanted Litvinenko killed there are myriad better ways of doing it, with the ways ranging from the mundane (eg 'blown' tire) to more 'elaborate' methods. There would be no reason to use a relative slow method that is highly exotic and allows the person to shout from the mountaintops how Putin is trying to kill him (particularly just before Putin is scheduled to head to Europe).
Furthermore while Mr. Litvinenko was a thorn in Putin's side, he was not that major of a thorn to warrant such a hit.
Now, if you look at Berezovsky you have a person who has it BIG for Putin. Absolutely hates the guy. Furthermore you have a person who is among the richest people in the world, being one of the billionaire oligarchs. He definitely has the means (you'd be surprised what a resource base of several billion is capable of purchasing), and he has the motive (to discredit Putin before the European meet).
Anyways, did Putin do it? Maybe he was overcome by a spell of sheer and utter stupidity and decided to kill Litvinenko in a manner that left breadcrumbs heading straight to Moscow.
Did Berezovsky do it? Saying 'yes' outright would be the best evidence of prudence, but he does have the means and the motive.
Anyways, I'm not 'defending' Putin. And I am not subscribing to a conspiracy theory. All I am saying is that the manner and mode of death was of a highly-damaging nature when the Russians had access to quite a number of other measures that would have been far more effective (inculding some that would enable them to 'send a message' without smearing themselves in the process). As for Berezovsky ....I am not saying he did it (until evidence comes out saying that he did it then he did NOT do it), but he is definitely capable of doing it.
I'd say both sides are doing exactly what they accuse each other of doing:
pro-Putin types are screaming that Berezovsky did it, and nothing can dissuade them of that 'fact' (even though there is NOT ONE scintilla of proof that Mr. B was involved at all with this case, apart from Mr. Litvinenko having visited him, and yet the pro-Putin types automatically pointed the finger at Berezovsky based on nothing but 'beliefs' and convoluted connections).
Anti-Putin types are doing the same, but in their case adamantly asserting that it had to be Putin (his authorisation) and not even bothering to look at how bizzare it would be for Putin to authorize such a STUPID hit (target doesn't deserve a hit, methodology utilized was seriously flawed, timeframe, creation of a furor just before a major meeting).
I'd rather wait and see what happens. I'm sure the Brits will come up with an answer one way or the other.
This is sending a message, not just taking out Litvinenko - Putin is saying, "We can take you out anytime, anywhere - keep quiet, unless you want to die in agony."
That's a powerful message to send.
Regards, Ivan
The Polonium had to come from a sophisticated source. Either it was connected to Putin, or it wanted to appear connected to Putin. I don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems like there are an awful lot of people who eagerly jumped on the anti-Putin bandwagon.