Putin's Russia: Something to Hide?

TOL ^ | 8 December 2006

[lizol]

Something to Hide?

by TOL

8 December 2006

If the Kremlin's hands are clean in the Litvinenko case, why won't it let British investigators do their work?

When Alexander Litvinenko's remains were laid to rest in London's Highgate Cemetery on 7 December, his body was so radioactive that it had to be buried in a specially sealed casket. It will be a lot harder, however, to contain the fallout from the ex-KGB spy's death.

As a week filled with a series of bizarre revelations in the Litvinenko case drew to a close, Scotland Yard detectives appeared to be inching tantalizingly closer to the truth.

The Times of London reported that investigators now suspect that Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium-210 on 1 November when he met two Russian businessmen at the Pine Bar in London's Millennium Hotel. All seven bar employees working that day have tested positive for the radioactive substance.

Police suspect that the lethal mixture that killed Litvinenko, either via a contaminated drink or cigarette, was prepared in a room at the hotel. Adding to the intrigue, investigators have found large traces of polonium-210 in a fourth-floor room that was occupied by an unidentified visiting Russian.

The killer, according to police, apparently stalked Litvinenko throughout the day on 1 November and unsuccessfully attempted to poison him in the Itsu sushi bar in London's Piccadilly neighborhood. Traces of polonium were also found on Italian academic Mario Scaramella, who ate with Litvinenko at Itsu.

Suspicions that the assassins came from Russia appeared to be vindicated by the fact that traces of polonium-210 were discovered on British Airways jets traveling between Moscow and London.

But as Scotland Yard has been painstakingly reconstructing this macabre series of events in London, Moscow has been busy throwing up roadblocks. And the roadblocks strongly suggest that the Kremlin has something to hide.

The two Russian businessmen Litvinenko met at the Pine Bar on the day he was poisoned – Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB colonel, and his partner Dmitry Kovtun – could obviously shed some light on what happened. That is, if they were able to speak freely to British investigators. Problem is, both of these men are back in Moscow and Russian law-enforcement officials appear determined to control access to them.

British investigators are especially interested in speaking to Lugovoy, who met with Litvinenko four times in the two weeks before he was poisoned. Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said on 6 December, however, that British police would not be allowed to interrogate him directly, but only to sit in while Russian authorities questioned him. That meeting, however, has been repeatedly delayed.

British detectives have been able to speak to Kovtun, albeit only together with Russian police. Reports in the Russian media that Kovtun had collapsed and fell into a coma due to radiation poisoning shortly after being questioned have been denied by his lawyer – and have fueled suspicions that Moscow isn't exactly playing straight in the investigation.

TOO MANY COOKS Russian prosecutors, claiming that Lugovoy and Kovtun were also targets of the killer who poisoned Litvinenko, announced on 7 December that they were opening their own investigation. The move will likely emasculate the Scotland Yard investigation in Moscow. Russia is also considering sending its own team of investigators to London – all in the spirit of cooperation, of course.

Russia's state-controlled media, meanwhile, has been busy spinning alternative theories about what happened. The latest brings in the Kremlin's favorite bogeyman: Litvinenko, who apparently converted to Islam on his deathbed, was helping Chechen rebels make a radioactive dirty bomb.

Given the fact that the Russian authorities, and possibly even Vladimir Putin's Kremlin, are widely viewed as legitimate suspects in Litvinenko's death makes it extremely hard to trust Russia's law-enforcement officials.

Over the years, Litvinenko had his hand in exposing a plethora of things the Kremlin would rather remain hidden – assassination plots against political opponents, the 1999 apartment bombings, and the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, just to name a few. And anybody who knows anything about Russia's police, prosecutors, and secret services will tell you that they are highly politicized at best, and hopelessly criminalized at worst.

It is unclear what kind of game Moscow is playing with Lugovoy and Kovtun. What is clear is that the two are unlikely to be candid with British investigators while Russian officials are standing in the room. If Moscow is serious about helping in the investigation, the best thing it can do is get out of the way and let Scotland Yard do its work. That is, if they have nothing to hide.

[GSlob]

The russia itself has been a disaster for everyone within reach since AD 862, if not earlier. Thus, strong disaster is doubly bad.

[Diocletian]

That's a purely subjective statement. I was never much for Russia myself until Putin came along.

[GSlob]

Well, I was born and grew up there, understood the place and got the ef out of it as fast as possible. Of course, my understanding is subjective- but independently of me quite a few others who have been on its receiving end have come to the similar conclusions. Thus there might be something to it. At least till convinced by reason [scriptures do not apply] that the "Russian civ" is not barbarity, "hier stehe Ich. Ich kann nicht anders".

[Diocletian]

Are you an ethnic Russian or non-Russian?

[GSlob]

Non-russian, of course. Thus I look from the outside - a very good vantage point.

[Diocletian]

Coloured by your own background, no doubt :) I understand especially if you're from the Baltic countries or from the west of the Ukraine.

[GSlob]

I am a former muscovite - the ninth circle, Giudecca. And so, I've seen them from the inside, and from the outside - and it stinks, in both cases.

[Diocletian]

What's your opinion of Boris Berezovsky?

[GSlob]

An unpleasant character, but probably among the best which could have been hoped for at the time and place [which merely means that the other actors were still worse]. "The road not taken".

[Diocletian]

You're kidding right? He's tight with the Chechen mafia and Mujahideen, a murderer and thief. In short, he's a traitor.

[GSlob]

I am not kidding in the least, but am absolutely serious, in literal sense. In my opinion, given the intrinsic quality of what you call him a "traitor" to, such civilizational treason is a sine qua non for any self-respecting human being.

[Diocletian]

How can you support a man who supports al-Qaida backed Chechen Mujhaideen?

[GSlob]

Are you familiar with russian history or [let's go easy on you] even with russian literature as taught in russian schools? Tolstoy and Lermontov. The Chechens [since the 1820s] are your garden variety national liberation movement. The wahhabist/al quaeda angle is a very recent phenomenon. Besides, "Russia for Russians", "Chechnya for Chechens" and so on.

[Diocletian]

I'm quite familiar. I'm also aware of that the Chechens, with de facto independence from 96-99 invaded Russian Dagestan in '99. Putin was right to then crush them and their al-Qaida allies.

[M. Espinola]

"Nonsense. Russia hasn't made any moves like the Soviets did in Afghanistan, in Poland, Hungary, etc."

And you want everyone to believe Russia never will, right Comrade?

"Why shouldn't Russia control its own natural wealth? Should American natural wealth be controlled by outsiders? Of course not."

The obvious problem is Putin is attempting to totally control the energy resources of bordering free nations (formerly captive Soviet states) and Putin has and will again utilize energy in order to blackmail nations he wishes to control.

"So by your logic, national pride is "Hitlerian". Is that your position?"

No those are your words, however my position is you are in here being a Putin yes-man. AAs stated previously if you love Russia to such a degree, relocate. Make it a one-way-flight.

[M. Espinola]

Are you an American or Russian or .....?

[JadeEmperor]

"Based on what it has always been, it is, and would be, a hell on earth. Barbari sunt, barbarice egit."

I know for a fact that if I had to choose between being born and growing up in Brezhnev's USSR (which I did) and some developing country (Afghanistan, Bangladesh or anywhere in Africa and most of Latin America, etc) I would choose the former. To me, a 3rd or 4th world country with all its diseases and sanitaion issues and basic day-to-day insecurity is still much more closer to "hell on earth" than an authoritarian, but comparatively civilized and stable (predictable) society. Its a preference I am not ashamed to admit.