Free Republic

Chechen rebels have said they will honour ex-Soviet spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died of radiation poisoning. "The president and the government of Ichkeria [the rebel name for Chechnya] plans to bestow the state's highest decoration to compensate the actions of Alexander Litvinenko on behalf of the Chechen people," said a rebel statement. Litvinenko's poisoning death in London on Thursday is still being investigated by British police. But the Chechen rebels blamed Moscow for his death by apparent radiation poisoning. The incident has strained relations between London and Moscow, which denies any involvement in the incident. Litvinenko was close to Chechen...

“Well you’re the obvious guy, uh, spirit, to ask about this stuff, because you spent most of your career watching the KGB didn’t you?” It was rhetorical, needless to say. I had finally connected with the shade of the late James Jesus Angleton after several dropped communications via the ouija board, and now that I had him I wanted to find out what he thought about the melodramatic death of former KGB agent (or FSB…whatever) Alexander Litvinenko in London. Ian Fleming couldn’t have invented a wilder story.....

Tensions between Britain and Russia over the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent, burst into the open yesterday when a Cabinet minister condemned the "murky murders" clouding Vladimir Putin's regime.Peter Hain's hint at possible Kremlin involvement in Mr Litvinenko's death from radiation poisoning four days ago came as John Reid, the Home Secretary, said the police were now treating the death as "suspicious". Until now police have referred to it as an unexplained death although they previously said they suspected deliberate poisoning. A formal request has been submitted to Moscow for any information that might help the police....

As a work of fiction it would be unbelievable: a dissident KGB colonel poisoned in a London sushi bar, the finger of suspicion pointed at the Russian President. The Sunday Telegraph investigates the life and horrific murder of Alexander Litvinenko It was 9.21 pm on Thursday when Alexander Litvinenko's traumatised body finally gave up its fight for life. With his wife Marina, son Anatoly and father Walter at his bedside, the former KGB colonel struggled for his last breath in an isolation ward at University College Hospital in central London. As his life ebbed away, the Russian defector had become...

Polonium-210 could have come from Russia November 26, 2006 BY STEVE GUTTERMAN MOSCOW -- The radioactive substance that doctors think killed a Kremlin critic and former Soviet spy could have come from Russia, but nuclear experts said Saturday it would be hard for investigators to pinpoint blame for the death even if the toxin's origin is determined. Alexander Litvinenko, who died in a London hospital Thursday, blamed President Vladimir Putin in a statement signed days before his death. Polonium-210, the substance doctors think killed Litvinenko, is usually made artificially in a nuclear reactor or particle accelerator, and likely would come...

The last person to meet Alexander Litvinenko before he succumbed to the agonising effects of radioactive poisoning is a self-professed expert in nuclear materials. International 'security consultant' Mario Scaramella, who joined Litvinenko for the now infamous clandestine meeting in a London sushi bar, headed an organisation which tracked dumped nuclear waste, including Soviet nuclear missiles left over from the Cold War.

The death bed statement by Alexander Litvinenko blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the poison he believes took his life. But will we ever know with certainty who was responsible? While the Health Protection Agency says Mr Litvinenko was poisoned with the radioactive substance polonium-210, the question of who was responsible persists. The former spy's two meetings in central London on 1 November, in Piccadilly and Mayfair, may hold the key to the identity of his killer. The former KGB agent made enemies Friends of the 43-year-old have blamed the Russian security service (FSB), as Mr Litvinenko accused it of...

The death of former Russian agent,Alexander Litvinenko has stirred up a hornet's nest. I'm going to stir up another by suggesting an alternative scenario.

Britain's intelligence agencies last night claimed that the poisoning of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko bore the hallmarks of a "state-sponsored" assassination.A senior Whitehall official told The Times that confirmation that the former Russian spy, who had become a British citizen, had been poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 and other evidence so far not released pointed to the murder being carried out by foreign agents. Last night the Foreign Office said that officials had met with the Russian ambassador in London and had asked the Kremlin to hand over any information that it had which could help the Scotland Yard investigation....

Alexander Litvinenko’s final testament, released after his death on Thursday evening, is deeply moving. It is also political dynamite. He thanked the hospital that battled to save him. He thanked his friends and the British authorities and paid tribute to the country that had granted him citizenship a month before his death. And dramatically accusing President Putin of having no respect for life, liberty or any civilised value, he said the Russian leader may have succeeded in silencing one man, “but a howl of protest from around the world will reverberate in your ears for the rest of your life”.His...

[...] You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed. You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value. You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women. You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you...

Just a headline, as of 10AM.

The poisoned Russian spy breathed defiance at the Kremlin as the effects of a mystery cocktail pushed him to the brink of death.“I want to survive, just to show them,” Alexander Litvinenko said in an exclusive interview just hours before he slipped into unconsciousness. Too weak to move his limbs and visibly in great pain, the former Russian intelligence officer suggested that he knew that he may not win his struggle against the lethal chemicals destroying his vital organs. But he said the campaign for truth would go on with or without him. “The bastards got me,” he whispered. “But...

Poisoned Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died on Thursday in an intensive care ward, London's University College Hospital said. Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, suffered a rapid deterioration in his health on Thursday, but doctors still were unable to determine the cause of his death, a spokesman said in a statement.

Russia's Poisonous Foreign Policy // The West thinks Alexander Litvinenko is a victim of the Kremlin The scandal surrounding the poisoning of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko has reached international proportions. A photograph of Litvinenko in his hospital bed emblazoned the front pages of the leading European and world newspaper yesterday with editorial coverage that favored the idea that the political emigrant is suffering for his criticism of the Kremlin. The case has been taken up by the antiterrorism unit of Scotland Yard and Washington is not standing up quietly either. The U.S. administration has asked Great Britain for all...

Doctors treating former Russian secret agent Alexander Litvinenko said Tuesday that thallium poisoning was an "unlikely cause" for his serious condition while conceding that the mystery surrounding the case may never be solved. The statement appeared to contradict an earlier assertion by a leading independent toxicologist that the 43-year-old was poisoned by a dose of radioactive thallium, a substance used as rat poison. Dr Amit Nathwani, who is treating Litvinenko at London's University College Hospital, said late Tuesday: "Based on results we have received thallium poisoning is an unlikely cause of his current condition." "He has been poisoned, so we...

It appears that the Kremlin has attempted to assassinate Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko, whose warnings to the West have been repeatedly cited in this column. A former lieutenant colonel of the KGB/FSB, Litvinenko wrote a book titled Blowing Up Russia: Terror From Within. During an interview with Rzeczpospolita in July 2005 he explained that al Qaeda’s number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri was trained by the FSB (KGB) in Russia along with other al Qaeda leaders. According to Litvinenko, “[there is] only one organization which has made terrorism the main tool of solving political problems.” And that organization, he said, “is...

LONDON - A former KGB agent turned Kremlin critic who was poisoned three weeks ago was moved into intensive care Monday after his condition deteriorated, and his doctor said the toxin has attacked his bone marrow. Prominent Russian exiles claimed Litvinenko was poisoned at the behest of the Kremlin... Thallium causes hair loss and interferes with the cardiovascular and nervous systems, attacking the vital organs. Litvinenko's white cell count is down to nearly zero, said Dr. John Henry, a clinical toxicologist treating him. "It shows his bone marrow has been attacked and that he is susceptible to infection," Litvinenko, who...

Excerpt - Scotland Yard is investigating the attempted murder of a top Russian defector poisoned by political enemies in London. Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-KGB colonel who fled the current Russian regime to claim asylum in Britain, is under armed police guard in hospital. Sources have confirmed that the Russian was taken suddenly and dangerously ill on November 1 while investigating the recent murder of dissident Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Mr Litvinenko was poisoned following a clandestine meeting with an associate at a sushi bar in London's Piccadilly. ~ snip ~

MOSCOW (AP) - When Alexander Litvinenko worked for Russia's main security agency, his job was to try to infiltrate and topple terrorist networks. Today he is fighting what he claims is the country's biggest terrorist group: his former employer. From London, where he fled in November 2000, Litvinenko, 39, talks to anyone who will listen about the Federal Security Service's alleged role in apartment-house bombings that killed more than 300 people in Russia in 1999. He claims to have vital evidence stashed in a suitcase waiting for independent investigators. Many Russians have questioned the official version of the 1999 events,...