London's Better-Than-Bond Spy Story

Ex-KGB Agent's Poisoning Has Makings Of Cold War Novel, But His Death Was All Too Real: Who Done It?

(CBS)  Berezovsky has long been loudly and publicly critical of Putin's leadership. But now there are rumblings that he may actually be trying to instigate a forced overthrow of the Kremlin — a concept he's mentioned before.

Former Russian premier Yegor Gaidar became violently ill at a conference in Ireland one day after Litvinenko died. He's recovering in a Moscow hospital and doctors have said he was, in fact, poisoned.

We don't know, but the symptoms — a rapid onset of vomiting and fainting — sure sound like a milder version of what Litvinenko described.

"The chain of deaths of ... Politkovskya, Litvinenko and Gaidar, would perfectly correspond to the interests and the vision of those people who are openly talking about a forceful, unconstitutional change of power in Russia as a possible option," said Anatoly Chubais, a top official under former President Boris Yeltsin who now heads the national electricity monopoly.

Chubais' remarks on Russian television didn't name names, but those "people" he referred to were very likely Berezovsky and his cohorts.

In short, Berezovsky could have killed his friend to make Putin look bad, real bad, and/or to instigate a revolution in Russia. Not very nice, but this is business we're talking about.

Opportunity: Money may not buy love, but will buy anything else, and polonium-210 is no exception. A quick online search and look at the blogs reveals that the radioactive poison may be available for as little as 70 bucks to whoever wants it.

Berezovsky has plenty of money. He could easily have acquired some polonium-210 and used his many contacts (remember — he was very well acquainted with Litvinenko, and surely has other spies and security operatives in his little black book) to poison his buddy.

But did he do it? Who knows, but lots of people very familiar with Russian politics and affairs consider him the prime suspect.

Berezovsky, I should now mention, has flatly denied any involvement in Litvinenko's death.

Mario Scaramella

On Nov. 1, just before getting sick, Litvinenko met Mario Scaramella at a sushi restaurant in London.

Scaramella, an Italian security expert, had called Litvinenko to request the meeting. He wanted to give the former spy a copy of an e-mail that allegedly showed both men's names on a hit-list for Russian agents that also included Politkovskya.

The Italian went back to Rome after their meeting, but returned to London for a chat with the police and to be tested for contamination with the deadly isotope.

It came out Friday that the Italian was being hospitalized after the health agency confirmed that another individual had tested positive for contamination with a "significant quantity" of polonium-210. It's Mr. Scaramella.

You'll note the lack of subheadings used above — that's because if Scaramella did have a reason to want Litvinenko dead, it eludes me.

Friday's development that he is poisoned with the same stuff only bolsters the doubt in my mind that he's the cluprit.

He surely knows a lot of people and could afford some polonium at 70 bucks a pop, but I have seen or read nothing suggesting he would have, or could have killed this man. If I'm proven wrong, please leave appropriate "I told you so" comments below.

The Story Ends?

The English have been investigating mysterious murders for a very long time. Think Scotland Yard, Sherlock Holmes… you get it.

This case is snowballing at an impressive pace, with leads branching off in multiple directions and a trail of polonium-210 there for the authorities to follow.

If anyone can solve this case, it may as well be the Brits.

That said, whoever killed Alexander Litvinenko was very good at their job, clearly didn't act impulsively, and didn't think they were going to end up getting caught.

Nobody has been able to say who was behind Politkovskya's murder yet. And a long list of other political dissidents — not just from Russia mind you — have been killed or "disappeared" without any conclusive blame being laid.

And that, I fear, is where this great murder mystery diverges from the path of a classic novel. There may never be an ending. The snowball may just keep rolling then melt, when this season of public interest makes way for the next.

[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?