Dead Russian spy to be buried as a Muslim

Timesonline ^ | December 4, 2006 | Philippe Naughton

[BMC1]

Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence agent poisoned in London, is to be buried according to Muslim tradition after converting to Islam on his deathbed.

The spy's father, Walter Litvinenko, said in an interview published today that his son - who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya - made the request as he lay dying in University College Hospital.

"He said ’I want to be buried according to Muslim tradition’," Mr Litvinenko told Moscow's Kommersant daily.

"I said, ’Well son, as you wish. We already have one Muslim in our family - my daughter is married to a Muslim. The important thing is to believe in the Almighty. God is one.’"

Nine Scotland Yard detectives were preparing to fly to Moscow as early as today to speak to witnesses who met Litvinenko around the time of his poisoning, which is believed to have happened on November 1 at a sushi restaurant in Piccadilly.

The Russian foreign ministry confirmed today that visas had been issued to the investigators and the prosecutor-general's office also offered "to provide all necessary help to British colleagues within the framework of international agreements and the law of the Russian Federation".

[Revelation 911]

His father is Orthodox and said this?

only when it suits the family it appears

[randita]

Me either. Something stinks here. Is this a Kremlin rope-a-dope?

Sounds like misinformation possibly. It would be in Putin's interest to claim this guy was tied to terrorists. Then if his poisoner is traced to Putin, Putin can claim the man had to be killed to defend the "Motherland" from terrorist acts. If there are objections, Putin can say the U.S. does it, who can't I?

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Litvinenko had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya

Chechnyans were responsible for the Beslan massacre.

[antiRepublicrat]

This changes everything. Was the guy working with Chechen terrorists?

Of course he was. His claim is that the FSB (the Russian security service he worked for) worked with Chechen terrorists as a matter of policy. Apparently, two of the terrorists who took over that theater in Moscow were in the employ of the FSB, and their bodies were not found in the theater after it was over.

[antiRepublicrat]

How can Muslim religion be so attractive?

I'd guess the purity. It's just you and God, period. No trinity, no divine prophet, no OT/NT -- just God and his message in the Quran. Not that I actually believe any of that though.

[Joe Boucher]

If so then I just lost interest in his story.

[IntelliQuark]

"The spy's father, Walter Litvinenko, said in an interview published today that his son - who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya - made the request as he lay dying in University College Hospital.

"He said ’I want to be buried according to Muslim tradition’," Mr Litvinenko told Moscow's Kommersant daily."

"Islamist rebels in Cechnya" = Terrorists/Al Qaeda

[GarySpFc]

Litvinenko to be buried as a Muzzie. Bingo!

[txhurl]

Does he have ties to the Beslan massacre?

[Thunder90]

The West has to protect the peace with Russia and China at all costs, or else we lose any leverage we have over North Korea and Iran. I believe that the Muslim story was planted by someone.

[oceanview]

huh?

[wtc911]

trouble maker.

[livius]

He had converted some time before. This was known earlier.

[antiRepublicrat]

huh?

That's what he claimed, and it looks like they killed him for it.

[archy]

who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya -

This changes everything. Was the guy working with Chechen terrorists? Was he a secret islamist? This story gets weirder and weirder.

Oh, it gets better. Russia's Peace and Unity Party was the recipient of some 34 million dollars worth of Iraqi oil vouchers, controlled by party chairwoman Sazhi Umalatova, A Chechen and a radical leftist. Was this a part of Saddam's WMD program?

Litvinenko Crazy Enough To Build Chechen Bomb

Associates of Litvinenko point to a man desparate for money, and crazy enough to build a Chechen dirty bomb:

In early May, Litvinenko first approached Julia Svetlichnaja, a 33-year-old Russian-born academic who is examining the roots of the Chechen conflict for a book she is writing. Litvinenko asked if she was interested in becoming involved in his ‘blackmail’ project.

‘He told me he was going to blackmail or sell sensitive information about all kinds of powerful people including oligarchs, corrupt officials and sources in the Kremlin,’ she said. ‘He mentioned a figure of £10,000 they would pay each time to stop him broadcasting these FSB documents. Litvinenko was short of money and was adamant that he could obtain any files he wanted.’

It appears Litvinenko, a vociferous critic of President Vladimir Putin, may have finally acquired the firepower to hurt some of the Kremlin’s most powerful interests. Svetlichnaja said: ‘He did not seem worried. Quite the opposite; Litvinenko sensed he could finally make some money of his own after years of being supported by his friend [and fellow Russian exile] Boris Berezovsky.’

… Among the theories that remain open is that the poisonings were an accident that happened while Litvinenko tried to assemble a dirty bomb for Chechen rebels. Those who know him believe he was crazy enough to attempt such a thing and, in the past week, some have implicated him in the smuggling of nuclear materials from Russia.

This week should bring the results of the postmortem on Litvinenko. For the first time, detectives will know how much polonium he ingested. Vast quantities would point to a murder; smaller quantities possibly to accidental contamination. From Washington to London to Moscow, detectives, governments and spies are watching and waiting.

So it seems we have a man desparate for cash and fearless about how he could obtain it. As I wrote earlier today here and here, I am of the opinion an assassination attempt would not spend the extra amounts of money to procure 100’s of lethal doses for just one man. A single dose of Polonium-210 should cost around $1 million dollars (a heavy price to pay to replace one bullet). Since Litvinenko had 100 times the lethal dose I doubt seriously we are talkiing about a $100 Million hit job. No way. So I am of the opinion the more Polonium-210 found the less likely it is an assasination attempt.

Update: It seems “Sasha” (as Litvinenko is known) was involved with nuclear material smuggling last year - tied to Scaramella:

FOUR ITALIANS PROBED ON SUSPECTED URANIUM TRAFFIC

Source: Corriere della Sera website, Milan, in Italian 11 Jun 05

ACC-NO: A20050612118-BB2A-GNW

LENGTH: 647 words

HEADLINE: FOUR ITALIANS PROBED ON SUSPECTED URANIUM TRAFFIC Text of report by Virginia Piccolillo, “Uranium to make atom bomb sold to four Italians”, published by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera website on 11 June

Rome: “During the month of September 2004 I was approached by an Ukrainian national, whom I know by the name of Sasha, who wanted to sell me a briefcase containing radioactive material, and, more precisely, uranium for military use.” There is enough testimony by Giovanni Guidi, a Rimini businessman, and by other defendants - Giorgio Gregoretti, Elmo Olivieri and Giuseppe Genghini - to fuel a spy story [preceding two words published in English] worthy of a novel by Le Carre. Involved is a briefcase containing five kilos of highly enriched uranium, half of which would be enough to build an atomic device, which remained for months in a Rimini garage. A briefcase, however, which eluded investigators, and which managed to get back into the hands of the Ukrainian national, who perhaps is still in Italy. Together with another briefcase having a similar content, and a third believed to conceal a tracking system. The entire kit geared to the assembly of a small tactical atomic bomb.

A mystery story fuelled by information supplied the Rimini police department by a consultant of the Mitrokhin committee, Mario Scaramella, who, acting on behalf of the agency presided over by Paolo Guzzanti, was trying to track illegal funds from the former USSR that had transited through [the Republic of ] San Marino. The two defendants’ defence attorney warns that this “could be the trial of the century, but also the century’s biggest hoax”. The mystery, however, continues, and emerges from the testimony of the defendants, who were questioned Wednesday [8 June] night and all day Thursday, and subsequently released with the charge of possession of war weapons.

The uranium was allegedly contained in a hermetically sealed, black, leather briefcase, along with a photo illustrating its content. Five uranium bars weighing one kilo each. Sasha delivered the briefcase to Guidi. “My precarious economic situation induced me to accept,” explains the 46-year-old Rimini businessman, who is married to a Russian woman, and runs an import-export firm that has dealings with Russia and Ukraine. Guidi in turn informed Giorgio Gregoretti, who “placed it [the briefcase] in a cardboard box, which he subsequently stored in his garage.” There it remained until it was placed in the trunk of Gregoretti’s car, where it was seen by Elmo Olivieri, a financial consultant. Time passes “without their finding anyone interested in the material”, says Guidi, and the Ukrainian “asks for the briefcase back”.

Guidi also testified that “even another briefcase was to arrive” from the warehouse of a multinational firm in Basel. At which time he makes another bid, this time asking for 60/70,000 euros, in addition to bank guarantees sealed by a three-million-euro credit letter. “We often went to San Marino,” but nothing came of it, says Guidi. At this point, the three decide to ask for Genghini’s help, “who in the past had proven to be a war-material expert”, says Guidi, who reports having learned from Genghini himself that the uranium was worth 30m euro per kg. Genghini admits having spoken of radioactive material, but “geared to hospital use”. Later, according to Guidi, Olivieri mentions a prospective purchaser: a Swiss multinational. Then, the affair gets muddled. Guidi boasts of being protected by the intelligence services, and claims he was threatened on 2 June. The only sure thing is that the Rimini police, headed by Sebastiano Riccio, start looking for the “atomic” briefcases on 9 June, as soon as they learn that the defendants are planning to transfer to Lugano. The case is by no means closed, with search operations still under way.

Source: Corriere della Sera website, Milan, in Italian 11 Jun 05

[VeniVidiVici]

Man, if someone doesn't make this fiasco into a movie they should have their head examined.

Even James Bond couldn't dream up this plot.

[Dante3]

I agree. This does not sound credible at all.

[Honorary Serb]

I have not had time to follow this complex crime drama, since I have all too much happening in my offscreen life lately. Heck, I don't even watch, or like, the multiple CSIs and Law-and-Orders on TV!!!!

However, from past experience, I suspected that the knee-jerk analyses of the anti-Russians (whether on FR or offscreen) were likely to be way off. Now we have this muslim/Chechen connection. Stay tuned!

[A. Pole]

A few days ago our local Rusophobes questioned or spinned away the fact that Litvinienko was a Muslim convert and supporter of radical Islamists in Chechnya.

GSlob:
"Like flies for crap, you have the predilection for crappy sources: debka, al jazeera, and the like. Do you have a civilizational allergy to everything decent?"

"Well, if you take such sources seriously, maybe I'll be able to sell you, say, a spassky tower of kremlin. Cheap, too. Who would believe the baboon's claim of Litvinenko conversion?"

JasonC: "When Ahmadinejad kills your family with weapons Putin supplied, I'll be sure to snort rather than mourn."

GSlob:
"As I wrote, I do not trust a single word from kegebuns. So why do you post to me?"

"No sane person would voluntarily convert, and people in his former profession are checked for mental stability. Thus, no matter who, and how many times, repeats that 2x2=5, would I be believing them?"

spanalot:
"The Russians have the most blood on their hands in Chechnya - did'nt you read the accounts of them bombing the building with tanks, etc."

"I see you did not take the time to read the website - but plenty of time for knee jerk gabbing."

JasonC:
"The Russian shills continue to grasp at straws, while the Russians continue to murder whoever they please."

Chechen honour for dead spy

---

Akhmed Zakayev, Anna Politkovskaya and Alexander Litvinenko

[justa-hairyape]

"He said ’I want to be buried according to Muslim tradition’," Mr Litvinenko told Moscow's Kommersant daily.

Nine Scotland Yard detectives were preparing to fly to Moscow as early as today to speak to witnesses who met Litvinenko around the time of his poisoning, which is believed to have happened on November 1 at a sushi restaurant in Piccadilly.

No surprise that a Moscow Daily would print this information (whether true or not) at the same time that Scotland Yard is sending 9 detectives to Moscow to interview their number one suspect, Lugovoy, someone with close ties to Russian FSB. If the burial story is true, it is possible that Litvinenko may have been simply slapping Putin in the face one last time from his deathbed. Putin has been obsessed with potentially losing the Caucasus to Muslim extremists. Litvinenko accused Putin of staging terrorist attacks as a pretext to the retaking of Chechnya. And Litvinenko was due to soon publish a well documented second book on the subject.