Wrap: New polonium poisoning cases in Germany

RIA Novosti ^ | 12-11-2006 | RIA Novosti

[sergey1973]

MOSCOW, December 11 (RIA Novosti) - The ex-wife of a witness in the case of a murdered former Russian security officer, her two children and boyfriend have been hospitalized in Germany with suspected polonium-210 poisoning, the head of the investigation team in Hamburg said Monday.

He said a medical examination will show if their organisms contain a dangerous concentration of the radioactive element. Authorities did not identify them by name.

Businessman Dmitry Kovtun met with defector Alexander Litvinenko around the time of his poisoning at the beginning of November. Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin's administration and a close associate of fugitive oligarch Boris Berezovsky, died in a London hospital after four days in a critical condition.

[sergey1973]

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[sergey1973]

Litvinenko Ping

[ASOC]

Hopefully these folks are not past effecitive dimercaprol treatment.

THe web lists a fatal dose as:
maximum allowable body burden for ingested polonium is only 0.03 microcurie, which is equivalent to a particle weighing only 6.8 picograms. Talk about a death on the head of a pin....

[Centurion2000]

Makes nerve gas look clumsy and inefficient.

[ASOC]

Oddly, I suppose, Dimercaprol was developed by the Brits as an answer to Lewisite - a nasty bit of work in and of itself.

[justa-hairyape]

Representatives of the investigative team also said "they have almost no doubt that Dmitry Kovtun brought polonium from Moscow."

Obviously down to only two possibilities now. Polonium smuggling operation or Assassination. Either way the stuff came from Moscow.

[Lurker]

Why would one smuggle polinium into Britain?

There's really only one reason to do that.

L

[justa-hairyape]

Well the pro-Putin crowd claims that Polonium was smuggled out of Russia for Chechen revolutionaries. Could possibly be done to earn them money or to use as a trigger for a nuclear weapon. Granted, since Chechnya is part of Russia, one would wonder why they don't just smuggle the stuff directly from Moscow to Chechnya. No planes required.

[Lurker]

Granted, since Chechnya is part of Russia, one would wonder why they don't just smuggle the stuff directly from Moscow to Chechnya

They don't even have to get it that far to do damage to Russia. And if it was Chechens why kill a guy who sympathized with them? It makes no sense.

use as a trigger for a nuclear weapon

The Russians have thousands of them laying around. Hell they've admitted they don't even really know how many they have. It'd be easier to just assault some facility in Whateverzackstan and steal one.

Nope so far the admittedly circumstantial evidence is pointing straight at Pootey Poot.

Did you know Bush looked into his soul?

I thought only God could do that.

Silly me.

L

[Lx]

Nope so far the admittedly circumstantial evidence is pointing straight at Pootey Poot.

The thing is, I can't see him being that clumsy. I can see him being that evil. Maybe he needs better flunkies.

[Lurker]

Maybe he needs better flunkies.

Bingo.

L

[Rutles4Ever]

I fully agree. This has dirty bomb written all over it. Problem is, where's the polonium that they didn't accidentally ingest?

This is one of those 'use it or lose it' weapons.

[G8 Diplomat]

Ah, so the Russkies are taking a little trip to Germany now, eh?

He said a medical examination will show if their organisms contain a dangerous concentration of the radioactive element

I think they meant ORGANS...

[F-117A]

"One of the key witnesses to the murder of Alexander Litvinenko was contaminated with polonium-210 at least four days before he met the former Russian spy in a London hotel bar, German police revealed yesterday. Dmitry Kovtun, who met Mr Litvinenko on November 1, the day he was poisoned, had already been in contact with the radioactive substance, German investigators said.

The German inquiry focuses on whether he was in illegal contact with radioactive materials rather than the murder of Mr Litvinenko itself. At a press conference, a senior prosecutor said that one possible explanation was that while "packaging or transporting" the polonium before the meeting, Mr Kovtun had been "sloppy" and accidentally touched it."

The Guardian