Posted on 12/01/2006 11:25:16 AM PST by MadIvan
A secret assassination squad was set up to poison former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, it was claimed today.
The allegations are contained in two letters smuggled out of a Russian jail and passed to a close friend of Mr Litvinenko.
The letters were apparently written in jail by Mikhail Trepashkin, a former Russian intelligence officer. In one, Mr Litvinenko is warned that both he and his family are at risk. Mr Litvinenko's friend Alex Goldfarb said scans of the letters came into his possession yesterday and he passed them to Scotland Yard.
In 2004 Mr Trepashkin, who worked for the KGB's successor the FSB until 1997, was accused of being a British spy and passing secret information to Mr Litvinenko and his close friend tycoon Boris Berezovsky, both exiled in London. He is currently serving a four-year sentence.
In a message to Mr Litvinenko on 20 November, Mr Trepashkin recalls a conversation in August 2002 in which he warned Mr Litvinenko - already living in London - that he and his family were at risk from the FSB.
Mr Trepashkin tells his friend that he had met an FSB contact in Russia who told him that a "very serious group" had been set up, which "will knock out all those associated with Berezovsky and Litvinenko".
"My understanding then was that they were planning to take out your relatives quietly, without much fuss," he wrote.
Mr Goldfarb said the other letter, addressed to him and written on 25 November this year, detailed an offer to be a witness in the British investigation into Mr Litvinenko's death.
Following fresh poisoning claims involving former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar, the Foreign Office said today that it was not linking the two cases.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said today: "We have noted the reports of Yegor Gaidar's illness and wish him a speedy recovery. We know of no information which suggests any connection with the Litvinenko case and will continue to follow any developments closely."
Among those caught up in the radiation scare was Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell who, along with London 2012 Olympics organising committee chairman Lord Coe, flew to Barcelona last month on a BA jet checked for contamination.
"I'm feeling absolutely tiptop," she said today. "This was a scare that never was."
That makes sense.
So--The hotel is contaminated becase he was staying there??
What article?? I'd love to read it.
bkmk
What I'm asking is--
1. Was the Hotel contaminated?
2. If the hotel was contaminated, was it a seperate incident, or was it just "leftovers" from the Litvinenko poisoning?
>>Scaramella was not poisoned at the same time as Litvinenko, but has been targeted with polonium since then, either in Italy or London; this raises the possibility that the 'poisoner' is still at large in the UK. <<
You posted this, and I would really appreciate a link. I'm very confused.
This is huge, if true!
The assassins are still on the hunt if he was targeted seperately.
>>From Timesonline
Poison plotters claim their second victim
Richard Beeston and Daniel McGrory
Italian contaminated in London sushi bar
Victim at cancer risk from polonium-210 dose
Tests revealed that Mario Scaramella is suffering from radiation poisoning
(Tony Gentile/Reuters)
See picture gallery of the major players in the Litvinenko case
Police fear that the murder of a former Kremlin spy may have been part of a double killing plot after a second man was taken to hospital last night with radiation poisoning.
The Anti-Terror Group is examining whether the killers of Alexander Litvinenko also tried to poison Mario Scaramella, an Italian security expert who met the Russian exile on the day that he fell ill.
Toxicologists confirmed yesterday that Mr Scaramella had also been contaminated by a “significant” amount of deadly polonium-210. The level leads them to suspect that it was more than he could have ingested from simple physical contact with Litvinenko.
Radiological experts also say that the amount is more than he could have inhaled from being close to Litvinenko had he coughed or sneezed. Cobra, the Government’s emergency planning committee, met after learning of Mr Scaramella’s contamination.
Doctors say it may be several weeks before the Italian academic knows the long-term effects of the contamination and whether he is likely to develop cancer. Mr Scaramella has ingested nothing like the amount that Litvinenko did, which explains why he has not shown the same acute symptoms, but doctors say that there is a longer-term risk of him developing cancer.
One health expert told The Times last night: “There is no known way of getting rid of polonium-210 from the body, so it does cause long-term damage.” Mr Scaramella met the former KGB colonel on November 1 at the Itsu sushi bar in London that the men used as a rendezvous.
The two were critics of the Kremlin and both appeared on a death list drawn up by a group of former KGB agents reportedly behind a number of murders abroad of enemies of President Putin.
Detectives believe that a sizeable team travelled from Russia to smuggle the polonium-210 into Britain and shadow Litvinenko. There is a suspicion that Litvinenko’s mobile telephone was bugged and the surveillance team knew of his meeting with the Italian security expert, who had taken part in a parliamentary investigation in Rome into KGB dirty tricks.
Tests have shown that an adult member of Litvinenko’s family, who was close to him during his illness, was exposed to a very small amount of polonium-210, the Health Protection Agency said last night. Traces of radiation were found on the clothing of the person, believed to be Litvinenko’s wife, Marina. The levels are minute, the agency said, and any risk to health is likely to be very small. Other members of the family are understood to have tested negative.
Police will meet medical experts today to discover whether Mr Scaramella ingested the polonium-210 by accident as it was transferred by his lunch guest or whether he, too, was deliberately poisoned. Only Litvinenko ate lunch. Mr Scaramella had a bottle of water.
The Health Protection Agency said that the amount of poison found in Mr Scaramella was “likely to be of concern to his immediate health”. That Mr Scaramella has yet to show any symptoms does not mean that he was not significantly poisoned. A briefing by the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, suggests that it may take up to four weeks for symptoms to show for lower but still deadly doses.
Mr Scaramella had been due to fly back to Italy today but will remain under guard in a London hospital. Police, who questioned him in London on Thursday, are said to have ruled him out as a suspect. The officers who carried out the questioning in West London will now be tested for exposure.
While police are still trying to discover how the poison was administered to Litvinenko, they now believe that it was delivered at the sushi bar.
A post-mortem examination was carried out on Litvinenko yesterday by three pathologists but police say the outcome will not be known for several days.
Police and toxicologists will need to trace Mr Scaramella’s whereabouts during his time in London, and Italian authorities have been advised to do the same. A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “We have officially informed the Italian Government . . . they have the same predicament about airlines that we faced because Mr Scaramella flew out of the country.” Giancarlo Aragona, the Italian Ambassador, said last night: “The health authorities here and in Italy are in contact but no moves have yet been made to check or ground any aircraft.”
Yesterday an hotel where Mr Scaramella is believed to have stayed was sealed off while radiation tests were carried out, but no traces were found at the Ashdown Park Hotel in Wych Cross, East Sussex.
So far 2,655 people have contacted NHS Direct, fearing that they may have been in contact with the substance: 356 have been asked to provide a urine sample for further analysis.<<
The should be a big wakeup call to everyone in the west who has been rambling about how we won the Cold War for the past decade. Nobody told the Russians that they lost, or that they are no longer a major world power.
Yet another example of Eastern Europeans doing jobs that British assassins won't do. And at half the price probably.
Litwinenko converted to Islam 2 months prior to his death.
bookmark
Have you heard any further info on test results for the two Russians, Andrei Lugovi and Dmitri Kovtun, who met with Litvinenko on Nov. 1 in the Millenium Hotel? These two seem to be a key in unraveling the mysterious polunium trail in Britian and possibly Russia via their plane trips. I think one of the guy's hotel rooms had the highest contamination of any of the tested sites (on the floor and light switch). Lugovi flew in from Moscow on Oct. 31, Kovtun flew in on Nov. 1 from Hamburg. Both returned together to Moscow on Nov. 3. Don't know if the planes and seats they flew in/out on have been identified, but this would help in figuring out if contamination was after and/or before their meeting with Litvinenko. I'm assuming these two guys are still in Russia.
Seems like it takes a long time for test results to show positive signs of the poisoning. Anyone know when the all clear for a suspected poisonee is possible - or is this unchartered territory?
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I guess that happens. Remember when Squeaky tried to hit Gerald Ford? The tin foil I've heard is that no pro would do it, but the sponsors still wanted to try it so they went to the remains of Manson's Family and the low-rent folks took the job, but screwed it up. Black ops things are strange. |
Here is the reported encounter. It occurred just prior to the Sushi bar encounter.
Wednesday November 1st (10 AM) Millennium Mayfair Hotel located in Central London. The following Russians meet with Litvinenko : Sergei (also called Andrei) Lugovoy; Dmitry Kovtun; and Vyacheslav Sokolenko. Litvinenko is reported to have drank some tea. Latest reports however are that police suspect that Litvinenko was poisoned during his next meeting that day which occurred at the Sushi bar. He became ill with stomach problems a few hours after the Sushi bar encounter and was hospitalized that evening.
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