U.K. Protecting Dead Spy's Lunch Companion

Security Expert Who Ate Sushi With Former KGB Agent Now Guarded In London

(CBS/AP)  Russia's top nuclear official on Tuesday denied the polonium, usually manufactured in specialized nuclear facilities, could have been stolen from a nuclear facility in Russia.

"Allegations that someone stole it during production are absolutely unfounded," said Sergei Kiriyenko, director of the nuclear agency Rosatom. "The controls are very tough."

Kiriyenko said Russia exports 8 grams of polonium-210 monthly, all of it to the United States. He said there had been no exports to Britain in five years.

A coroner will perform an autopsy on Litvinenko's body Friday, "subject to appropriate precautions," to try and pin down the cause and circumstances of death, said the local authority responsible, Camden Council. Doctors had sought expert advice on whether Litvinenko's radioactive body posed a threat to the doctors and technicians performing the post-mortem.

A coroner's inquest will be opened Thursday and then adjourned until the police investigation is complete, the council said.

Detectives on Tuesday continued to retrace Litvinenko's steps Nov. 1.

Traces of radiation have been found at six sites, including the central London office of Boris Berezovsky, the self-exiled Russian billionaire and Litvinenko's mentor.

In a statement, Berezovsky said he had "complete faith in the British authorities and the police."

Litvinenko's friend Andrei Nekrasov told The AP that Litvinenko frequently visited Berezovsky's office to use the telephone, computer or photocopier.

"Berezovsky's office was open to him informally," Nekrasov said. "His routine typically consisted of moving around, hopping on a bus, meeting people. He was trying to be active and needed."

Polonium-210 also was found in a building in the posh Mayfair neighborhood that houses Erinys UK Ltd., an international security and risk management company that Litvinenko visited the day he fell ill.

Police also have found traces of radiation at a bar in London's Millennium Hotel, a branch of Itsu Sushi restaurant near Piccadilly Circus, Litvinenko's house in North London and a section of the hospital where he was treated.

Police said Tuesday they were searching two more Mayfair addresses — a building at 58 Grosvenor St. and Sheraton Park Lane Hotel. A spokeswoman for Britian's Health Protection Agency confirmed that experts had already conducted tests in "key public areas" of the hotel and found no risk of radiation poisoning.

[kjgal]

bellaL
We shouldn't poke the least bit of fun at this story, it is very serious. But dang, I was thinking the very same thing!

[numina1]

...its not just this former spy. The journalist assassination. Remember too the Russian oil tycoon who was arrested on "tax evasion" and his company sold? But the only bidder was some mysterious entity who was the only one certified to place a bid for the company....

Putin must realize that a fundamental principal behind freedom: One cannot claim to be a nation of laws while those who are charged with enforcing the law are the law breakers. A nation cannot claim to uphold freedom while simultaneously silence those people who freely choose to speak out against evils...be it the corrupt russian traffic cops or the government itself. Intimidation and force are the tools of those who have plenty to hide: their incompetence or their lack of judgement. Period. Last post.

[numina1]

he was killed i think because he was about to reveal that Russia's Putin was involved in those residential bombings that were later blamed on the Chechnians....so he can be justified in launching an offensive.......

and to think we have relations with Russia...the increasing crackdown and use of assassinations as an acceptable form of intimidation to silence critics can only be harbingers of bad omens...we nip this here and now independent of economic ties or we risk letting it fester and grow until it is too late.

Our attention is focused elsewhere like Iraq and we forget that ignoring the individual wrongs brings with it gross wrongs later....

[bellal-2009]

THat one in the black turtleneck needs to find an unlikely safehaven, like hiding out in suburbia portraying a husband. I will volunteer my house as cover my small contribution to freedom.