London's Better-Than-Bond Spy Story

(CBS)  News analysis by CBSNews.com's Tucker Reals

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I had been planning to check out the new Bond movie — until Alexander Litvinenko died. The story has captured the imaginations of every would-be sleuth and conspiracy theorist in this city, and for good reason: It's the real deal.

Poison, murder, mystery, espionage, dossiers (the Brits love dossiers), lots of clues, lots of possible motives, the only thing lacking is a lurid sex angle — sorry, I still haven't found that — yet.

So far, London police haven't called Litvinenko's death a murder. They will. Nobody doubts that the former Russian intelligence agent died of a huge dose of polonium-210, and I'm confident the autopsy set to begin Friday will confirm that.

Traces of the man-made isotope have turned up in at least a dozen spots across this capital city and in several aircraft.

This stuff isn't your everyday household cleaner.

They don't sell seaweed-polonium rolls at the Itsu sushi restaurant where Litvinenko dined the day he fell ill, and you can't get it at drug stores. He was poisoned.

So who done it? Here's a look at the suspects:

Vladimir Putin

Litvinenko himself blamed the very Russian security services from which he defected for his death, or at least a statement he supposedly wrote on his deathbed that was read immediately after his death did.

Motive: When he defected to England, the former spy took up a new life as a full-time Moscow/Kremlin critic. He was investigating the murder of veteran Russian journalist and fellow Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskya, and based on an e-mail given to him by an Italian contact (who I'll get to later), he was about to implicate Putin's henchmen in her shooting.

Opportunity: Getting a hold of some polonium and smuggling it into the U.K., then somehow getting it into Litvinenko is tricky. But Vladimir Putin runs a huge country with all the nuclear technology it could possibly need, lots of money, and a vast network of some of the best trained secret operatives in the world. The resources are there.

But did he do it? Our Moscow bureau chief tells me Litvinenko was little known in Russia before his death, and his opposition work was more a nuisance than a catastrophe for Putin.

Furthermore, being a legal U.K. resident, and given the pressure already brought upon the Kremlin by Politkovskya's murder, Putin had much more to lose in the way of international prestige through Litvinenko's murder than he did from Litvinenko's accusations.

But there is evidence, sort of. The day he got sick, the ex-spy met with two Russian men at a London hotel, one of whom, he told police, he didn't recognize. Could the man have been a Russian agent? Sure he could have.

Then there are the planes. Two aircraft that have recently flown routes between London and Moscow tested positive for traces of polonium-210 and another is grounded in Moscow awaiting tests. Police want to check out at least two more. But the planes also landed at hundred's of other airports before being parked.

And even if it is determined that the chemical was flown into London from Russia, it could easily have been at the request of someone elsewhere … or even an elaborate tactic to confuse investigators.

Boris Berezovsky

Litvinenko's new life in London was funded by another exiled Russian with fierce anti-Kremlin views: Boris Berezovsky.

The billionaire is often referred to as Litvinenko's mentor, and he made his central London office available to the former spy for phone calls and other practical visits. That office is one of the six locations where police found traces of polonium-210.

Motive: Berezovsky made his billions in the '90s when the Russian government privatized lots of industry. Like a handful of others, he bought in, and got very rich — earning himself the title "oligarch." Then the government charged him with fraud and tax evasion and he fled to London, a wanted man.

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[radiob-2009]

From the Telegraph A police source said: "The results may seem to suggest that Scaramella was an accidental victim but it is still possible that the perpetrators simply failed to do their job properly, or that Scaramella himself might have had another role."
From The Times Alexander Goldfarb, Litvinenko%u2019s friend, said: %u201CHe obviously suspected Lugovoi. He suspected Scaramella too, but he suspected Lugovoi more. That is why when he was ill, he never put that meeting with Lugovoi and his associates into the public domain. He wanted to lure him back to London when he got better.%u201D
Do an online research of all the individuals that are known to have come in contact with Litvinenko and you can determine yourself who's past has more shadows than the others.When one's own father does not know what his son does for a living, the individual becomes dubious at least.

[inarguable]

Agnim - unfortunately, you are failing to think "outside the box" with your comments, and are being rather close-minded. This assassination plot goes far deeper than simply removing Litvinenko, who by the way was not a "spy" as has been widely reported, but was in fact an FSB agent - much the same way as an FBI special agent in the US is NOT a spy - there is a HUGE difference between a spy and an agent. Now, the murder of Litvinenko, as well as the very public manner in which he was neutralized, demonstrates that within the Russian govt/military/intelligence power structure there exists a tremendous amount of corruption and fear, and the primary questions that should be asked is, what were men like Litvinenko uncovering and exposing about those secretive inner workings that demanded he be silenced permanently? Why was Litvinenko murdered in such a way that publicity over his death would obviously be blatantly fierce? Is Putin himself indeed actively or tacitly involved, or could we be witnessing a frame-up here, where anti-Putin dissidents internal or external to Russia are attempting to attack Putin by proxy and bring him down? Russia is rampant with corruption and powermongering, and Litvinenko's most public of death's was obviously going to cause a massive amount of negative press and questions about the Putin regime. Who stands to gain the most from silencing someone who was already so publicly against the Putin regime? This is far bigger than the death of a single man.

[agnim]

People, people, people, all this hoopla over the death of a murderous britisher is much ado about nothing much.

As unfortunate as what is being reported is, no angels died here!

One doesn't graduate to the position of a colonel in the murderous spy business for sitting around playing chess. LOL

The world of these spies is nothing but a state run mafia.
They can rub out anyone they wish anytime.
This guy knew the devilish score before he joined and BECAME A SPY COLONEL!

That was the kind of business this spy colonel was in.
He seems to have died as he lived!

To say Putin is responsible is mere propaganda.
As with the mafia, 'turn coat' spies attract MANY enemies!

Putin wouldn't need to stoop so low to get rid of a lowly blabbering spy; his comrades and teachers were probably embarrassed by his inability to shut the hell up! A bad and deadly habit for any spy. LOL

[dkrants]

ZykraCosmos,
I think you're turning things upside down when you're saying that Putin had a motive for killing Litvinenko. It was exactly Litvinenko's death which made screams about Russia's "totalitarism" so loud. When Litvinenko was alive nobody even knew about him or paid much attention to his criticism of Putin. Now all major US newspapers are full of propaganda-type headlines like "Russia: The Enemy" ((c) Wall Street Journal). Do you really think that president Putin benefits from all this all this??

And do you really think that if Putin or FSB needed to kill Litvinenkoo they'd do it in such a slow way to allow their victim to live for a week or two and write "accusation letters"?? BTW, there was no evidence that Litvinenko's pre-death letter is indeed his own.

[zykracosmos]

If you think Putin is clean on this, go back and watch the movie "A Clear and Present Danger." It is easy to see how a powerful leader could support a controversial covert operation with only implicit approval and detached supervision, as long as he felt the end result was for the common good. If he knew of the operation and just didn't disapprove of it, it is still tacit support. How tempting to make his critics "all just go away." There are solid indicators of the FSB's involvement in this drama. Pick a more conventional way to kill an opponent, you say dkrants? Don't forget they murdered poor Anna Politkovskya right in front of her apartment, execution style. While I grant Putin the same "innocent until proven guilty" status I would anyone, it seems very difficult to believe a man of his intelligence would not at least be aware of a sordid little project that his old agency would be involved in. Reagan kept his distance from Iran/Contra, but his lieutenants carried it out. Nixon didn't break in to the Watergate, but his closest advisors engineered it. Get the picture? Now for a motive? Russia's effort to get in to the WTO (just granted) didn%u2019t need the embarrassment of dissenters screaming about a return to totalitarianism. Putin's efforts to reinsert the government into national business ventures also means he has to step on the new billionaires created from Yeltsin's overnight privatization program. That requires absolute authority.

[aeasus]

dkrants,

Bravo, (Aeasus cheers loudly) Hats off to you sir :D

[dkrants]

It's really disturbing to see that literally all the major US media rushes to link Litvinenko's death to president Putin without any hard proof of such involvement.

If it was Putin behind this murder then why he would kill Litvinenko in such an exotic way (using radioactive materials) that suggests a state plot and create such an international reaction? There are many other quieter ways to kill a person which would look much more like an accident. Moreover why whould he choose to kill Litvinenko right before the EU summit where Putin went?

howzilla, my advice to you, before you make your paranoid conclusions - read early 2003 papers about Iraqi's WMD.

[aeasus]

howzilla,
There is little doubt Puttin is (finger pointed by media) behind this murder. We can see that the evil ways of the former Soviet Union are still being employed and exposing the people of the world to radiation is still acceptable. ( assumed through media) The Soviet Union is plotting with the Muslin nations to destroy us. (destroy is to big of a word) They will provide nuclear technology to the radicals and sit back and watch them do the dirty work. (we gave nuclear to pakistan and they sold it to Iran) It is absolutely imparative that we destroy North Korea's and Iran's nuclear capabilities (short term solution)
now and that includes assasinate (warmongering) their scientists. This is the hand writing on the wall as to what is in store for us if we have a "wait and see" policy. (I agree we need to start now... (with diplomacy,education,credibility,and economic growth) There are long term solutions!!

[aeasus]

The real question here is.....

If you can run around London and it's airports with radio active material...what else can you get away with?

With traces found on so many British planes, does this mean "this is not the first time" it's been used?

Are there any other airlines world wide with traces of the same?

Are there any recent unexplained deaths that we need to check into?

[ediemeyers]

If Polonium 120 was carried by Russian Agents on board British Airways to kill this guy - what else would the Russians do?

If it did not come from the Russian Gov't where did it come from...and what else is leaking out of Russia?