Murdered Russian Spy's Widow, Friend Speak

They Point To Russian President Putin And Kremlin Corruption In New Book, "Death Of A Dissident"

(CBS)  When former Soviet KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko died last November, it quickly got the world's attention.

The way he died, and the twists and turns that unfolded before his death, were something right out of a spy novel.

None of the friends and family who knew Litvinenko as "Sasha" could have predicted the discovery made as he was quarantined in a London hospital in his final hours — that his organs were failing because of exposure to lethal radiation from polonium-210.

Ever since Litvinenko broke with Russia's secret service, known as the FSB, and fled Russia in 2000, he said he was a marked man. He had exposed too many secrets.

Now, a trail of radiation left by one of the world's deadliest substances was revealing its own clues, which led to a London sushi bar, and a cup of tea, and to the London offices of Boris Berezovsky, a fellow émigré and Litvinenko patron who built a fortune during the breakup of the Soviet Union.

The radiation trail also led to Russia, where most of the world's polonium is manufactured, and to another ex-spy, Andrei Lugovoi, charged in absentia by Britain with Litvinenko's murder.

Lugovoi accuses British intelligence and Berezovsky with murdering Litvinenko to discredit Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.

But Litvinenko's final statement, read just after he died, blames Putin for his violent death and for untold suffering in Russia.

Litvinenko's widow, Marina Litvinenko, and his close friend, Alex Goldfarb, have written a book called "Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB."

They visited The Early Show Tuesday to discuss the book, and the case.

The book has the full story of Litvinenko's life and death, from what he was investigating to their views on who killed him and why someone wanted him dead. It names names, explains why Litvinenko broke with Moscow and revealed some of the biggest secrets of Russia's secret service.

"After what happened to Sasha," Goldfarb said to co-anchor Harry Smith, "somebody has to tell the story."

He said the trail left by the polonium used to poison Litvinenko shows that Lugovoi was the murderer.

Goldfarb added that nuclear experts tell him the polonium came from a Russian reactor. He says it was chosen because it's almost impossible to trace and it was just by chance that British authorities realized it was in play. "Had they not uncovered it, it would be an unexplained death," he said.

"We have reasons to believe it was the (Russian government behind Litvinenko's death), and Sasha himself said it was Putin," Goldfarb said, "because he knows the man personally ... and this describes the kind of regime it is."

To see the Early Show segment, click here.

To read an excerpt of "Death of a Dissident," click here.

"Death of a Dissident" is published by The Free Press, which is part of Simon & Schuster, which is owned by CBS, as is CBSNews.com.

[prinzowhales]

Mr. Litvinenko's Mossad handler, Goldfarb, neglects to tell us from WHICH Russian reactor the polonium was derived. Boris Berezovsky and the other disgraced oligarchs whose looting of Russia was ended by President Putin--who has the support of over 70% of the Russian people--decamped to the West. These fleeing felons were embraced by their co-conspirators here. American and other Western firms have access to Russian polonium and other radioactive materials thanks to their participation in clean-up and other work in Toblensk, so, even if the material were traced to Russia, it is more evidence of a frame-up than of some bizarre assassination.

Litvinenko was connected to Berezovsky and organized criminal and terrorist elements in Chechnya. There was no reason for Putin to kill him--he'd had more than enough time to divulge any information he had to his criminal masters in the West. There is word, however, that he was playing a double game and attempting to blackmail and betray the oligarchs.

Why would President Putin jeopardize his relations with Europe by engaging in such a dangerous game? He wouldn't! A well-placed heart attack would have sufficed to end the career of Litvinenko. The over-the-top polonium attack was used for its psychological warfare value--to get people to fear Russia and support the financial interests in London and New York that Putin has thwarted.

[prinzowhales]

In my last post..."Toblensk" should read "Tomsk".

Boris Berezovsky has long been a wanted man in Russia and the UK has refused to extradite him. He is an enemy, as are his financial supporters and allies in the City, of Putin.

Blair and Bush have been pressuring Russia on behalf of these interests--to the point of re-starting the Cold War. The NATO Alliance has broken its word to Russia on disarmament, Bush has unilaterally abrogated the ABM treaty and is pushing for ABMs in Eastern Europe--not for defense from Iranian missiles--but obviously, for a first strike nuclear option...to counter the Russian nuclear response.

America is already fighting a nuclear war in Iraq. It is spreading 'Depleted' Uranium throughout the land. Six times the level of radiation considered safe for uranium miners have been registered in Great Britain from this radiological poison being unleashed in the Middle East. It has a half-life of 4.5 billion years--compare that with the polonium. The legacy of this war are increased rates of cancer, birth defects and death that will plague Iraq for all time.

[donnie900]

No doubt about it, Plutonium is the key word there for major headlines. Most secret outfits (speaking in layman's terms of course) would shy away from the high profile nature of a plutonium poisoning. Not only was that man murdered, he was used as some kind of a red flag, or billboard sign. Smart people don't do those things. Smart people look like everybody else.