JOHN FENZEL

BBC: Poison Used to Kill Litvinenko from Russia

While this article confirms what we already knew--that Alexander Litvinenko's radioactive poison originated from Russia--it demonstrates that the story will not go away as many Russian officials would have liked....

The radioactive substance used to poison Alexander Litvinenko was highly likely to have come from a Russian state-controlled plant, says a lawyer.

Russia has previously denied the poison had been stolen from the country.

The former KGB agent's widow Marina wants to put pressure on Russia and find out who killed her husband.

Speaking on the anniversary of his death, Louise Christian, acting for Marina, said the case has been taken to the European Court of Human Rights.

Ms Christian said legal papers were filed on Thursday accusing the Russian government of complicity in the murder and of failing to carry out a proper investigation into the death.

Scotland Yard has identified Andrei Lugovoi as the main suspect in the case but he has denied any involvement.

The British government wants him to stand trial but attempts to extradite him have been unsuccessful.

Mr Litvinenko died in London's University College Hospital after being poisoned by polonium-210.

At a news conference Mrs Litvinenko said she still hoped the Russian authorities would extradite Mr Lugovoi to face justice in London.

"I lost my husband and I want to know who was behind the killing.

"I promise we will find who is responsible for this. Without this knowledge, we just cannot feel we are safe," she said.

Louise Christian, who has represented the cases of Britons being held at Guantanamo Bay and relatives of the Potters Bar rail crash victims, said evidence from an expert's report showed the Russian Federation was "guilty of complicity or connivance" in Mr Litvinenko's death.

A UK-based professor of theoretical physics concluded it was highly likely the polonium-210 came from a Russian state-controlled plant, she said.

She cited the professor as saying he was "almost certain" the Russian government was involved in supplying the polonium used to murder Alexander Litvinenko.

Alex Goldfarb, a friend of Mr Litvinenko, said friends and family would keep up the pressure for those responsible to be brought to justice.

"It looks unlikely that diplomacy and legal processes will result in bringing the perpetrators of this murder to justice here in London," he told reporters.

Instead, he said supporters would begin to speak about the "culpability of the Russian government" and would step up their campaign on the international scene.

Outspoken critic

Last year Russia's nuclear chief rejected suggestions that the polonium-210 linked to Mr Litvinenko's death could have been stolen from the country.

Earlier on Friday Mrs Litvinenko was joined by supporters outside the hospital, where her husband died.

There was a reading of Mr Litvinenko's death-bed statement accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of being involved in his murder.

Mr Litvinenko, who was an outspoken critic of Mr Putin's leadership in Russia, died after drinking tea containing the poison.

UK-Russian relations

Businessman Mr Lugovoi, who is running for a seat in the Russian parliament, claims the British case for his extradition has collapsed.

He rejects all charges and has just won a libel case against a prominent Russian newspaper.

In the wake of the Litvinenko affair there has been a deterioration in UK-Russian relations.

There have been tit-for-tat expulsions of first Russian then British diplomats, and a suspension of co-operation between security services, with no sign of either government inclined to back down.

BBC News security correspondent Frank Gardner says mutual suspicions are back close to where they were in the dark days of the Cold War.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/7108634.stm

Published: 2007/11/23 12:34:35 GMT

Telegraph:: Marina Litvinenko's Indictment: EU must act against Russia

By Marina Litvinenko
12:01am BST 26/10/2007

Today leaders from around Europe will gather in Lisbon to meet with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, for the EU-Russia summit. I can only imagine there is much to discuss, from the state of democracy in Russia to energy matters, to Kosovo to Iran. But there is one more glaring issue, which simply cannot be ignored at the meeting - the murder last year in London of my husband, Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive Polonium 210. He was murdered by the most cruel method imaginable.

Horrendous though it was, this was not even just the murder of one man - it was an act of nuclear terrorism on Europen soil. A mass radioactive poisoning took place in the center of London. Hundreds of others were exposed. Restaurants, hotels, aeroplanes and offices were contaminated. Several people including myself have an increased risk of developing cancer due to the exposure that we received.

In the eleven months since my husband's death, there has been a real and full investigation by British police. This was finished in January and the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was enough evidence to charge Andrei Lugovoy with my husband's murder. The British Government then requested Mr Lugovoy's extradition from Russia. Russia has refused to extradite him. In retaliation, Britain has tightened the visa regime for Russian officials and expelled four diplomats believed to be Russian intelligence officers in London. I am assured by British officials that they will continue to press Russia to give up the suspected murderer who must stand trial in Britain.

In the meantime Mr Putin has taken a defiant position. He spoke on national television in rejection of the British request using the most rude and uncivilized language. He advised "the British to get a brain change." He dismissed the Scotland Yard's evidence as insufficient. Effectively he has given Mr Lugovoy his personal endorsement in the eyes of the Russian people and the world. His propaganda machine went on to turn Mr Lugovoy into a kind of national hero. So, the accused murderer is now running for the Russian Parliament. Mr Putin's standing up for Mr Lugovoy adds credence to the allegations that Russia has something to hide. Indeed, Mr Lugovoy had no motive for killing my husband and only the highest level of the Russian government could authorize access to Polinium-210, one of the most toxic substances in the world.

Perhaps the real reason why Mr Lugovoy cannot be allowed to stand trial is that he would name those who provided him with Polonium and sent him on his mission to London? Where does this leave me and my son? We need to see justice. I owe it to my husband to demand that justice is done. I also owe it to the good people of Britain, the London police and the British government, who all stood by me, to do my utmost that our common quest for justice is not ignored by the outside world. That is why I will be in Lisbon as the EU-Russia summit begins. I have a direct message for President Putin: this will not go away as long as I live.

I will also have a serious message for EU leaders: it should be impossible for you to sit around a table with Mr Putin without demanding that he co-operate with Britain. I know that the EU has made statements on the Litvinenko case before, but we have now moved beyond words. The EU needs to take action and move from statements to sanctions in solidarity with Britain.

If the Kremlin Walls Could Only Speak....

The fact that Andrei Lugovoi is being officially being recognized as Alexander Litvinenko's assassin shouldn't come as a surprise--he was certainly one of three who carried out the killing of the former Russian KGB officer and dissident; what is surprising, however, is that Great Britain is actually charging him for murder.

The diplomatic implications of doing so are substantial, and pose a host of complex problems for Vladimir Putin. Not the least of which is that if he doesn't agree to extradite Lugovoi, Putin knows he becomes culpable, by extension. Undoubtedly, he'll be loathe to accept keeping Lugovoi in Russia. But this will pit Putin against powerful officials in the Kremlin (around him) who were likely directly behind the Litvinenko assassination. The motive? That's open to speculation--but look for more odd events in the future, as Vladimir Putin's tenure comes to an ostensible end-point. There are many in the Kremlin who don't want Putin to leave because they're afraid of who might replace him. Billions of dollars (rubles) in personal amassed fortunes are at stake.

If only now those Kremlin walls could speak....

Martin Sixsmith: The Litvinenko File

Calling it a "death foretold," Martin Sixsmith's book on the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko offers some added insight into this complex case and the people who knew him. Here are some excerpts:

Sixsmith's conclusions on Litvinenko himself:

What can clearly be stated is that there was no shortage of motives for his [Litvinenko's] killing. Alexander Litvinenko was a man who accumulated enemies with reckless abandon, who pitched himself against mighty figures and powerful interests, and whose obsessive, almost maniacal, character drove him to spurn offers of reconciliation and ratchet up the level of confrontation with his former colleagues and bosses.

On Boris Berezovsky and the FSB Expose:

1997 Berezovsky was probably the most powerful man in Russia. He and other postcommunist billion-aires had rescued Yeltsin from defeat in the 1996 presidential elections with unlimited money and media support. In return, Yeltsin had rewarded them with the keys to Russia’s economy, auctioning off state companies at knockdown prices.

Berezovsky was also a media magnate. His real interest, however, was the acquisition of power. He exerted such influence over the weak and chronically drunk president that he was widely regarded as making decisions for him. By the time Litvinenko was ordered to kill him, everyone knew that Berezovsky was a man not to be trifled with.

Litvinenko had an additional problem: he knew Berezovsky well. He had investigated a bomb attack on the rising tycoon in 1994, and they had become friends. The relationship had been cemented when, Berezovsky says, Litvinenko prevented the Moscow police from framing him for the murder of a prominent television presenter. “Alexander really saved my life, there was no doubt about it.”

For two months, Litvinenko and his comrades carefully teased out who was behind the proposed assassination, talking to contacts and sources, trying to discover if its backers were themselves powerful people and whether or not it would be in their own interests to go along with it. They knew a bad call could mean an end to their careers and, quite possibly, their lives.

Concluding that the top people in the FSB didn’t know about the order to kill Berezovsky, they reported it to the director. The move backfired. Khokholkov denied their story, and they were put under investigation.

Meeting secretly, the five men decided to seek protection from their proposed victim. Berezovsky could be a very powerful patron for a group of ambitious FSB officers looking to further their careers. Litvinenko told him the whole story.

“Initially I thought it was just a joke,” says Berezovsky. But he also spotted the potential to get control of the FSB.

He asked Litvinenko to bring the other four men to his office to make a videotape of their allegations. Only three turned up, but on the video one is heard quoting the order they received: “He said to us, ‘If there was an order to knock someone off — sorry, to kill; he said to kill — could you fix it?”

Berezovsky: “To kill me?” Agent: “Yes, of course you.” An FSB man later identified as Alexander Gusak also describes on the tape a face-to-face meeting with Khokholkov where he was asked if he would kill Berezovsky. “I replied that if it was properly sanctioned and had the right stamps — that is, the stamp of the prosecutor’s office and the stamp of our own organisation — and it had the right materials to back it up, I would be ready to kill Berezovsky and anyone else.”

Berezovsky took the incriminating videotape to a rising star in the Kremlin: Vladimir Putin, at the time a presidential aide. Berezovsky considered him a reformer and a friend. They regularly visited each other’s houses and even took skiing holidays together.

At first the ploy seemed to work. Putin took charge of the FSB, and the hated Khokholkov was transferred. Litvinenko thought he would have a big role in a cleaned-up FSB under his hero Putin.

Berezovsky had helped get Putin appointed and now expected him to pay this favour back by installing friendly faces in all the positions of power. If things worked out, the FSB would become a loyal Berezovsky fiefdom for him in the looming power battles over the succession to Yeltsin.

It didn’t work out, however. Putin’s debt of gratitude was small beer compared with the need to look after number one. The Berezovsky camp was just one among several warring Kremlin factions he weighed up to decide where his best interests lay.

To apply pressure on Putin, Berezovsky told Litvinenko and his colleagues to go public with their revelations about the assassination plot in a televised press conference. When some of the shocked agents refused — it was unheard of for FSB men to go public — he told them they had come too far to turn back.

On the eve of the press conference he summoned them to a grey-stuccoed building that had once been the family mansion of the noble Smirnov family. Inside, they were served drinks in Berezovsky’s club, the Logovaz Salon, with its gilded walls, ornate decorations and giant aquarium. Then they were coached on the statements they would be making.

Next day, in front of the cameras, Litvinenko accused his superiors of extortion, kidnappings and murder and, in a not very coded message to Putin, called on the FSB to cleanse itself.

Litvinenko identified himself but the five men with him were not so brave: one wore a ski mask and the others dark glasses. I now believe I know their names, which would recur with ominous regularity in both Litvinenko’s future life and the investigation of his eventual death.

They included Gusak, who would accuse Litvinenko of war crimes in Chechnya; Colonel Viktor Shebalin, who sat next to Litvinenko making an exaggerated show of friendship and support; and Major Andrei Ponkin, who was the only other man to speak. Ponkin alleged, among other things, that he and others had been instructed to kill the dissident former FSB man Mikhail Trepashkin.

Far from being nudged into cooperating, Putin was infuriated. The whistle-blowers were called in by FSB interrogators. Some were threatened, others offered inducements. It was made forcefully clear to them that they had brought shame on the service and the motherland. They could face the prospect of prison, or they could recant and agree to work against the “traitors” who had led them astray.

The question of exactly which of Litvinenko’s comrades succumbed to these blandishments is a vital piece of information for anyone seeking to unravel the events that led to his death.

Who Killed Anna Politkovskaya?

Radio Free Europe points to this report from ChechenPress, which implicates the Russian FSB and the pro-Moscow Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov in the murder of Russian journalist and Kremlin critic, Anna Politkovskaya. ChechenPress has published a long letter from five former members of the now defunct gang once led by Chechen warlord and former FSB special-task unit commander, Movladi Baisarov.

The five gang members accuse pro-Moscow Chechen Republic President Ramzan Kadyrov of sending three of their former colleagues to Moscow to kill Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya...and having them murdered upon their return to Chechnya.

The five gang-members describe Baysarov's collaboration with the GRU and the Russian 58th Army dating back to 1996, and his estrangement from Kadyrov after Kadyrov's father's death in a terrorist attack in May 2004.

One of the last photos of Anna Politkovskaya, taken by a surveillance camera near her apartment only moments before her murder.

The gang members allege that Kadyrov personally selected three of their colleagues and dispatched them to Moscow, where they murdered Politkovskaya on orders from an FSB Colonel identified as Igor Dranets.

On their return to Chechnya, the three men reported personally to Kadyrov on their mission, after which they were purportedly executed by members of Kadyrov's security guard. Baysarov protested the killing of his men and then left for Moscow, where he was gunned down in the street on November 18 by police sent by Kadyrov from Grozny.

Spontaneous citizens' memorial at entrance to Anna Politkovskaya's Moscow apartment October 10, 2006

This article from the Telegraph provides some good additional background information to the dynamics at work in Chechnya:

Daily Telegraph

Warlord who guards Russian president's legacy
Last Updated: 2:27am BST 27/03/2007

Next week, Ramzan Kadyrov, the 30-year-old son of the assassinated
Chechen president Akhmat Kadyrov, and the man some human rights
activists have accused of presiding over a culture of torture, will
be inaugurated as president of the republic.

It is a move that Mr Putin believes will secure his legacy there
when - and if - he steps down next year. Without the second Chechen
war, he might never have come to power. In 1999, when he was still
prime minister, Mr Putin enjoyed a popularity rating of just two per
cent. But that year bombs exploded in a several apartment blocks.

The Kremlin blamed Chechen separatists; others, including the
murdered ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, suspected that the
Russian security services had created a pretext to launch a renewed
war.

While Russia's savage destruction of Chechnya's cities
horrified the world, many Russians were delighted and responded by
giving Mr Putin an overwhelming victory in the 2000 presidential
elections.

Seven years later, the president still has not managed to subdue
Chechnya. While the rebels are far less powerful than they used to
be, they are not yet a spent force. Instability is spreading through
the North Caucasus.

Faced with mounting casualties, Mr Putin has tried to "Chechenize"
the conflict, and the new government is filled with ex-rebels whose
loyalty has been bought with massive subsidies from Moscow. "Putin's
priority is to make the republic manageable," said Edilbek
Khasmagomadov, a political analyst in Grozny.

"He believes these people have become loyal and will remain loyal
because he is willing to pay for their loyalty."

How long Chechnya's dodgy stability can last, however, is another
matter. Mr Kadyrov keeps control through his 10,000-strong militia
that survives through mass extortion and the abduction of civilians.
For the moment, rival warlords have been kept in check and Mr
Kadyrov has little public opposition. Critics are too frightened to
speak out, while many Chechens are both grateful that he is finally
rebuilding their homes and reckon that one all-powerful warlord is
better than several competing ones.

Sources:
Radio Free Europe
Current World Affairs
The TelegraphWikipedia

Litvinenko Assassination Linkages and Obfuscations...

An excellent summary from NPR's Morning Edition of where the Litvinenko investigation currently stands, along with the many formidable obstacles that stand in the way of any final, satisfactory resolution to the former KGB officer's assassination in December....

Untangling the Many Threads of the Litvinenko Case Morning Edition, December 15, 2006 · The investigation continues into the London poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. The investigation has turned up a complex web of stories generated by witness accounts.

NYT: Litvinenko Assassination Timeline

Click the article above to zoom, or go to the NYT website

Kremlin Tightening the Noose on Russian Media...

Vladimir Putin's latest decree to create a new agency to control the media has been preceded by a string of murdered journalists and authors who have been critical of the Russian government, among them: Anna Politkovskaya, Paul Klebnikov, Vagif Kochetkov, Alexander Litvinenko, and most recently, Kommersant Reporter Ivan Safranov.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in January that 13 Russian journalists have been murdered in contract-style killings since 2000, and 44+ have been killed since 1992, making the country the third deadliest state for journalists, after Iraq and Algeria.

Those killings, along with Putin's latest decree is certain to have a chilling effect on media freedoms in Russia for years to come. It is unclear whether the agency will be an expanded version of the existing Rossvyaznadzor, the Russian governmental body responsible for the control and the supervision of information technology and communications. The news alert below from Drudge:

Putin media decree arouses press freedom worries
Thu Mar 15 2007 11:37:07 ET

President Vladimir Putin has decreed the creation of a new super-agency to regulate media and the Internet, sparking fears among Russian journalists of a bid to extend tight publishing controls to the relatively free Web.

Putin signed a decree to create one entity that will license broadcasters, newspapers and Web sites and oversee their editorial content.

Raf Shakirov, who was dismissed as editor of the Izvestiya daily after critical coverage of the 2004 Beslan school siege, tells REUTERS how Putin's decree could extend Soviet-style controls to Russia's online media, which have been relatively free to date.

"This is an attempt to put everything under control, not only electronic media, but also personal data about people such as bloggers," he said.

Developing...

Here is an expanded account from the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation:

Putin media decree arouses press freedom worries
March 15, 2007, 14:45

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has decreed the creation of a new super-agency to regulate media and the internet, sparking fears among Russian journalists of a bid to extend tight publishing controls to the relatively free web. Putin signed a decree this week merging two existing agencies into one entity that will license broadcasters, newspapers and websites and oversee their editorial content.

The move, which comes before national elections next year, unites Rosokhrankultura, the organisation supervising media and culture, with Rossvyaznadzor, the federal body controlling telecommunications and information technology. Officials said this would improve efficiency by putting a single entity in charge of media content and technology but some of Russia's top journalists expressed concern. Under Putin's rule, independent publishers have been mostly taken over by Kremlin-friendly businessmen. Domestic media are under heavy pressure not to criticise the government, making journalists suspicious of any new official initiative.

Raf Shakirov, who was dismissed as editor of the Izvestiya daily after critical coverage of the 2004 Beslan school siege, said Putin's decree could extend Soviet-style controls to Russia's online media, which have been relatively free to date.

Media control
"This is an attempt to put everything under control, not only electronic media, but also personal data about people such as bloggers," he said.

Tired of stifling official control over mainstream television and newspapers, Russians have increasingly turned to the internet to find independent sources of information. Russians are the second largest group represented on the big US-based blog www.livejournal.com. Their blogs often feature political debates and advertise protests by opposition leaders. But authorities have already fired a warning shot across the bows of one leading news website, www.gazeta.ru, which got an official warning last year for "extremism" after writing about cartoons satirising the Prophet Mohammad.

Super agency might put the squeeze on media
Roman Bodanin, gazeta.ru's political editor, said the new super-regulator could make it easier for the government to track and pressurise independent media because the same agency would control the granting of licences and the supervision of content. Andrei Vasilyev, editor of Russian daily Kommersant, saw the move as part of a Kremlin drive to consolidate power before parliamentary and presidential elections in the next 12 months.

"It is very dangerous (for the Kremlin) to scatter the ownership of broadcasting frequencies and licences between different institutions," he said, saying he was speaking in a personal capacity. "There might be a loophole for some alternative information channel," he said.

Government officials said Russia's media would benefit from the new body, due to start work within three months. "The question of regulation will now be easier," said Yevgeny Strelchik, a spokesman for Rosokhrankultura. He dismissed worries about more control over the media as "journalists' fantasies". No official announcement on who will head the media super-regulator has yet been made. - Reuters

Here is an indication of how the Russian super-agency will go about monitoring, regulating and controlling the internet.

The Supervisor: Was Vyacheslav Sokolenko the Elusive “Third Man” Litvinenko called “Vladimir?”

Was Vyacheslav Sokolenko the elusive “Third Man” known as "Vladimir" who accompanied Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun in meeting with Alexander Litvinenko at the Millennium Mayfair Hotel on November 1, 2006? The convergence of coincidence (the fact that he stayed at the Mayfair, said he did not know Litvinenko but met him at the hotel, his professional association with Kovtun and Lugovoi) on November 1st would seem to cast doubt on Sokolenko's professions of ignorance and innocence. All three men--Sokolenko, Kovtun and Lugovoi--refuse to return to London to be questioned by Scotland Yard in their possible roles in Litvinenko's murder. If Kovtun was "The Transporter," could Sokolenko have been "The Supervisor?" Below is a profile of Sokolenko derived from a compilation of news articles that, when assembled, point to Sokolenko as someone who could fit Litvinenko's description of "Vladimir." (My emphasis added).

Sokolenko is an ex-KGB officer who currently heads a security firm with Dmitri Lugovoi. Sokolenko has denied claims that he was the "third man,” however, he admits that he was staying at the Millenium hotel at the time. Sokolenko says he was in London with Lugovoi and his family only to see a soccer match between CSKA Moscow and Arsenal. Sokolenko said he did not know Alexander Litvinenko, but said he met Litvinenko in the hotel lobby. "We shook hands out of politeness and then we went to our rooms."

Sokolenko, Lugovoi and Kovtun were former guards in an elite Kremlin unit of the KGB known as the Ninth Department that protected top Communist party officials. "We used to call it 'The Nine'... I'm proud I served there," he said. Kovtun, Lugovoi and Sokolenko are graduates of the prestigious Supreme Soviet military academy in Moscow. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Ninth Department became a separate body called the Federal Guard Service, FSO by its Russian acronym, which protects the Russian president and senior government figures. Lugovoi and Sokolenko were among many other KGB-trained officers who moved into the lucrative private security business in Russia's frenzied, and often violent, rush to capitalism during the Yeltsin years characterized by a proliferation of oligarchs, mafia and massive business disputes. "A lot of people left. It was the 1990s, we had to feed ourselves," said Sokolenko in a Moscow interview. Sokolenko and Lugovoi went to work for the security detail of ORT television — then owned by fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. "Everyone had security. It was chaotic. Now it's more regulated. The security business has been divided up," Sokolenko said. Sokolenko now works in a security company called “Ninth Wave” — the name came from the old KGB department and also refers to the sailor's expression for a massive, shipwrecking wave.

BBC: The Polonium Trail

London
1 Emirates Stadium: Traces of radioactive material found at Arsenal's ground, where ex-KGB man Vyacheslav Sokolenko attended a match during his stay at the Millennium Hotel
2 University College Hospital, where Litvinenko died on 23 November. Mario Scaramella, who met Litvinenko at sushi bar, also treated there
3 Central London: Litvinenko met associates at Millennium Hotel and at Itsu sushi bar on 1 Nov
4 Heathrow Airport: Radioactive material found in three aircraft frequently used in flights between London and Moscow, since given all-clear

Moscow
-Traces of radioactive material found on a Finnish plane and at British Embassy, visited by Andrei Lugovoi, one of those who met Litvinenko in London
-Another contact Litvinenko met at the Millennium Hotel - Dmitry Kovtun - treated for radioactive poisoning

Hamburg
-More radioactive material found in flat of Kovtun's ex-wife, where he had stayed before flying to London, in a car he used and at his mother-in-law's home
-She, her new partner and her two children are contaminated